★

"SO, ARE YOU GOING to tell me what your genius plan is?" Amara asked, watching as Lip threw on a yellow shirt—that looked remotely childish for a seventeen year old. She quirked a brow as he fell onto the bed next to her, his body brushing against hers, sending sparks flying up her side.

"Mmm," he groaned as he pressed his lips against hers, before pulling away. "Probably not."

She lightly smacked his arm. "Why?"

"Because you won't like it."

"Well there's your first sign not to do it right there," she pointed out, pushing herself into a sitting position. "What's that saying?"

"Happy wife, happy life?"

She rolled her eyes as he stood up. "No, never mind. Forget it."

He paused. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Lip very suddenly grabbed her hand, and yanked her out of the room, pulling her down the hall—where the distant sound of a razor could be heard. He opened the bathroom door, sharing a confused look with Amara once they both took notice of what Frank was doing.

"Why are you shaving his head?"

"Lice," Frank said simply.

"Since when do you...parent?"

"Since you dropped the ball. Vermin were literally jumping off his scalp."

Lip cocked an unconvinced brow, warily watching the scene in front of him, before slowly nodding. "Well, make sure you wash his sheets too, okay?"

"I look like a woman?" Frank retorted, and Amara narrowed her eyes to slits.

"No, you look like a sexist asshole." Frank waved them off, and Lip tugged her out of the bathroom with a pointed look. "What? Am I wrong?"

"You'll give me shit no matter what I say."

She grinned, pecking his cheek as the two of them stopped outside of her house. "Yeah, that's true."

★

"Hey," Amara greeted, walking through the back door of the Gallagher residence hours later, Silvia trailing behind her as the older sister carried two cans in her hands. "I brought the peas like you asked."

"Thank you," Fiona replied with a grin, taking the items from her grasp. Amara watched as Veronica poured herself a shot, making her brows furrow together in confusion at her expression. "Life savor."

"Where's Debbie?" Silvia wondered, and Fiona pointed towards the street—where the redhead could be seen playing catch with a heavy-set boy. "Cool, later."

Amara waited until she was gone to turn to Veronica. "What's going on?"

"You haven't heard?" She replied, hardly glancing up. "Kev's wife and child are back in town."

"Um, wow?" Amara's jaw fell open in shock as Fiona continued to season the chicken in a pallet on the counter.

"Whose ass am I kicking first?" Fiona asked.

"There's no ass to kick," Veronica shrugged half-heartedly. "Kev's a little boy with a white-picket-fence fantasy, and in walks his wife with his son."

"We don't know that," Fiona told her as Amara pulled off the lid to the can of peas. "First thing we do is get a paternity test."

"It's not about blood to Kev. There's a woman he grew up with, and married, saying her son is his."

"That's bullshit," Amara stated, and at the same time Fiona muttered, "that's stupid."

"It's not," Veronica argued. "Look at you two. You're a mother to your kids, Fi. And Mara raised Silvia like her own, too. Doesn't matter you didn't push them out." She downed another shot. "Kev's the first good man I've ever loved, you know? My first love was Apollo. Enough said. Then there was Spider."

"Spider?" Fiona repeated, sharing a look with Amara who just shook her head in disbelief, before they both chuckled.

"You can't make that shit up. No I-I can't fight for Kev. Asking him to pick me over them...is asking him to change the thing about him that I love the most."

Fiona's jaw clenched, and she washed her hands, hurriedly drying them on a towel. "Screw that."

"Fi," Veronica warned, but Fiona ignored her and stormed out of the room, quickly making her way outside. The two of them had no choice but to follow behind.

"Kev!" Fiona yelled, angrily walking onto the street—where Silvia, Debbie, and the unnamed boy were playing catch with Kev, who was sitting on a chair. "What the fuck?!"

"There's kids around," Kevin reminded her.

"Think they haven't heard it before? I know you know how Amara speaks!"

"Hey," Amara cut in defensively. "I speak just fine."

"What are you, drunk?" Kevin questioned.

"No, I'm not drunk. I'm out of my mind because you and V are the only things that have ever make sense in this fucked up world. If you guys can't make it, Jimmy and I should just quit right now." She chucked his beer bottle onto the ground. "I swear to God, if you leave V—"

"Who's leaving V?" Kevin interrupted, his eyes widening.

"You're leaving V?!" Debbie asked in shock.

"No! Fiona, what the hell?"

"The notary, Kev? The divorce papers?!"

"Oh," Kevin groaned, throwing his head back. "Shit, I had some drinks. And Cheryl dropped this kid bomb and I forgot."

"Hey!" A voice called, and Amara glanced up towards the sound of it, her eyes landing on a girl she was assuming Cheryl. "You're interrupting."

"Excuse me?" Fiona demanded, and the blonde girl continued to step out from Kev and V's house.

"Kev is trying to get to know his son. Give my boys their time."

"Your boys?" Amara echoed, crossing her arms as she glowered at the newfound woman. "Kev is not your boy you psycho bitch."

"No, no," Kev protested, looking panicked. "It's not what you think. Look, Cheryl and I have history. That's it. She's not trying to steal me away from V. She just wants me to meet my son."

Amara rolled her eyes. "What is it, dumbass day?"

Fiona turned to stare at Kevin once more. "I know school was never your thing—but Amara is right. You've never been dumb. If you don't see what's happening here, that's just plain dumb. Come on," she spun around, walking back into the house. "Dinnertime."

"Can Kyle come?" Debbie wondered.

"Ew, no," Silvia shook her head. "Not a boy."

"No," Fiona denied, and the redhead frowned, awkwardly waving goodbye at Kyle before following after the eldest Gallagher sibling. Back in the kitchen, Fiona put the last of the food onto the table as the room fell into an uncomfortable silence after all the fighting. She looked to Amara. "Could you go get Lip, please? He's up in his room."

"Yeah, sure," she nodded, and quickly jogged up the stairs, knocking on his door once, before pulling it open. He was lounging on his bed, reading an article, and he met her eyes almost immediately. "Hey. Dinner is done. Can I use your phone call Mandy to see if she wants to come over?"

Lip opened his mouth to say something in response, but Amara had already grabbed the device off his dresser to dial her friend's familiar number. Except that when she flipped open his phone, a picture of him and the pedophile teacher—otherwise known as Blake Collins—kissing came onto the screen. She felt the phone fall from her hands, and it dropped onto the ground as she stared at him, completely stunned.

"Look, Mar, I can explain."

"Don't fucking touch me," she yanked her arm out of his grasp, still at a loss for words as her stomach sunk at his betrayal. She knew they weren't dating, and she was fine with that. But there had been a mutual agreement between the two of them. One she thought was pretty simple: don't fuck anyone else.

"I didn't sleep with her," he said, as if knowing exactly what she was thinking.

"Oh, yeah, that makes me feel so much better. She just had her tongue down your throat, and you let her."

"Please, let me talk," he went to grab her again, but she backed up, now she was almost out of his room completely. "We only kissed, nothing else. And I did it to prove that she's still a fucking pedophile, isn't that what you wanted?"

"Not like this," her voice was thick now, and she could feel a lump forming in her throat as she fought off tears, unable to look at him. "Anything but that."

"It didn't mean anything, okay? It's just like actors kissing in movies! I took the pictures for proof for the cops. We're going to expose her. You can't get mad at me for that."

"And what if it had been me?" She demanded, now glaring at him. "If I had been the one to do this with a man, would you be telling me how to feel then? No, because if I had shoved my tongue down another man's throat, he'd be getting the shit kicked out of him right now."

"Well, to be fair, that's not technically an actual problem seeing as how you're a legal adult now-"

She shoved him away at his poor attempt of a joke, still fuming. "You're such an asshole, Lip."

"And you're a gigantic bitch."

Amara didn't respond, instead she clenched her hands at her sides, and turned on her heel to walk back down the stairs. She heard him mutter a curse when he realized she was not amused, and he hurriedly followed behind her. The tension between the teens was apparently obvious to everyone else in the kitchen, because they all watched them with confusion as Amara sat on the opposite side of the table—whereas normally she'd sit next to Lip—she was now the farthest away from him.

"Smells good," Lip commented, clearly trying to avert the attention away from them. "Where's Jimmy?"

"No idea," Fiona answered, handing them both plates, and Amara barely moved to grab any food in response, suddenly not having an appetite. "What happened to your head, Carl?" she asked when he pulled off his hat.

"Lice," Lip told her.

"Again?"

"Yeah. Frank shaved it."

"Yeah," Carl said. "And he got me into a summer camp."

"What? Why would he do that?"

"I don't know," Carl shrugged. "But it's cool, right?"

"Yeah, that's awesome, Carl. Hey, why aren't you eating? Normally I have to make you stop because you pile everything onto your plate."

Amara lifted her gaze up, before pursing her lips together. "Not hungry."

Fiona's face fell, but she nodded, and began to eat herself, before the door swung open, and Kevin walked in. The room fell into an even more tense silence as Veronica met his eyes, and the couple stared at one another, not saying a word. "I'm gonna know my kid," Kev started. "I'm gonna know my kid, and you can't have a problem with that. Look, I...I don't care about Cheryl, V. I used to, but she's nothing but a memory to me now. And I'm sorry I didn't go see the notary. But I would never leave you. Ever. You gotta know that."

Amara swallowed, the tears threatening to spill over once more, but for entirely different reasons this time. Kev heaved a sigh. "After everything we've been through, you kind of just have to know that."

Veronica bursted into tears, covering her face as Carl grimaced. "Woah. You just snotted the whole table."

The entire group broke out into matching laughs, and all of the remaining tension eased away. Lip kicked Amara's leg, making her glance up. He mouthed the words: I'm sorry, and she nodded.

"I know," she whispered, but her voice wasn't audible due to the sudden shout that came from the living room.

Cheryl walked in, bellowing Kevin's name, and the table only laughed harder at her presence. "What the fuck? Are they laughing at me?"

"No," Kevin lied.

"Yes," Fiona said at the exact same time.

"Fiona!" He snapped, shooting her a warning look.

"Fuck you," Cheryl sneered, and Fiona froze.

"Excuse you?!"

"Cheryl," Kevin said gently. "Listen."

"No, I'm done listening. Kyle, go pack our shit, now. You could've had this, but you want that? She's some kind of nympho. Has three drawers of dildos."

"What you doing going through my shit, bitch?" Veronica retorted.

"What's a dildo?" Debbie asked.

"Mom told me they're dog toys," Silvia replied, and Amara buried her head in her hands. "But we don't have a dog. And neither do they. Kinda weird."

"You're just as thick as the day I met you," Cheryl went on.

"I get that you're mad, but I wanna be a father to Kyle," Kev admitted. "And we can get you a place nearby."

"He's not yours, Kev," Cheryl stated, and they fell quiet again. "He isn't even mine. He's my sister's, you stupid piece of shit!"

"What did she say?" Veronica asked in a more calm tone than Amara was sure she felt, and she got up so quick that she barley saw her. Veronica lunged at Cheryl, shoving her against the washer and dryer. "What did you say, bitch?"

The two girls shrieked and screamed as they fought each other, and Cheryl grabbed the laundry basket, articles of clothing falling out onto the ground. "Should we stop them, or..."

"No way!" Amara shook her head. "You can't break up cat fights."

"Yeah, what, do you want to lose an eye?" Kev questioned and they continued to fight, going into the living room.

"Shit!" Fiona yelled. "Not the TV!"

"Get out the divorce papers!" Veronica ordered as Lip went to stand in front of the television. She walked Cheryl to the couch, clutching both of her hands as the blonde struggled against her. "This bitch is about to sign."

"I'm not signing shit!"

"You wanna walk away with four limbs?!" Veronica asked, tightening her grip on Cheryl, who screamed. "You're gonna sign the papers."

★

They crowded together as they watched Cheryl pack her things, and load them into her car. She turned around to say something, but Veronica held up a hand. "Uh-uh. Not one word. Just drive away."

Cheryl slammed her car door, giving them the finger, before her tires squealed against the pavement, and she was gone in an instant.

"Hell yeah!" Veronica shouted, holding up the signed papers into the air, and they all grouped together to hug her in excitement—and mostly relief.

As the stampede of Gallaghers dispersed, Amara found herself standing alone on the sidewalk with Lip, who hesitantly approached her. "I know I'm an asshole," he said, and she blinked in reply. "You've been telling me that since we were six. And I know I really fucked up this time—and I'll probably do it again in the future—because I am an asshole. But I can promise you this: I will never, ever do anything like what I did today again. Hurting you is the last thing I ever want to do, but I did it anyway. And I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, Amara. And I totally understand if you want to call it quits, because I deserve it."

"You do," she muttered after a moment of struggling to figure out what to say. "And I'm not going to lie and say I'm not still mad at you, because I am. But you're my best friend, and I can't live without you. It's kind of lame," she ran a nervous hand through her hair, before snickering.

"Why are you laughing right now?"

"Because you finally admitted that you're an asshole after thirteen long years of me waiting."

He furrowed his brows together in confusion, taking another step closer to her. "Do you forgive me?"

She rolled her eyes. "I guess. But I'm still mad," Amara added, but he only kissed her in response. She couldn't help the grin that spread across her lips as he lowered his mouth to her neck, slowly traveling down it, leaving sloppy kisses in his wake, before he muttered something against in her ear.

"How about now?"

"Making-out with me isn't gonna make me any less pissed."

"Damn," he pulled away with a smirk. "Worth a shot."

"You're a dick."

"Oh, so I've upgraded to dick instead of asshole? Finally," Lip grinned, pushing the front door open to the Gallagher house before they stepped inside, and he closed it behind them. "I've been trying for years."

She smacked his arm. "Shut up. And let's go, I'm hungry."

★