★

"AMARA?" A VOICE CALLED, although it sounded like she was underwater. Her shoulders were shaken gently and her head banged against something hard from behind her before her eyes finally opened. Silvia dropped her hands and stepped back. "Did you sleep here?"

Amara winced and cracked her neck. "Guess so."

"Fiona's court hearing is in an hour... I thought I should wake you up."

She yawned and stood, steadying herself on the counter with a hand as she stretched, popping a few joints as she did so. "Fuck why did I sleep on the floor?"

"You're not the only one," Silvia gestured to Margot, who was snoring quietly in the living room, still on the floor. Amara smirked to herself, recalling when she rolled off the couch the previous night, but she didn't like having even one thing in common with her mother, so her amusement faded quickly. "I'll meet you at the Gallagher's? Debbie said V and Kev stayed overnight and they're our ride."

"Right," Amara nodded, only coming to the realization that her sister was actually speaking to her just as the door shut behind her. She stifled another eye watering yawn before turning to go up the stairs to at least make herself look presentable.

The ride upstate was less tense than the ride home last night, but not by much. Lip was still fuming and anxious, his leg bouncing the entire drive there, and a few smiles were spared at Kev whenever he tried to break the silence while cracking a joke. Besides that, nothing much had changed.

She slid into a chair at the courtroom, Debbie and Silvia sitting on her left while Veronica settled on her opposite side. Three women in blue jail uniforms appeared behind the door, and Fiona's face popped up not a second after. Debbie offered her a small wave, and Fiona tried to return the gesture even though her hands were in cuffs. She looked horrible, her hair was matted and her face was pale and stained with tears. Amara's heart ached as she stared at her.

The gavel banged just as Fiona went to sit down, and a man in a suit stood up. "Fiona Gallagher. Case S6-974356."

"Is counsel present?" The Judge asked, and the woman (who Amara was assuming was Fiona's defense attorney) stood up and walked to where Fiona was sat behind bars.

"Yes, Your Honor."

"Read the charges," he stated and Fiona straightened up.

"Possession of a controlled substance, a class 4 felony under 720 Illinois Criminal Statute 570.1, and child endangerment, a violation of the Reckless Conduct Code 720 ILCS5 Section 12C-5 a Class 3 felony."

Fuck that was a lot. Amara gnawed on her lip and shifted in her chair anxiously.

"How does the defendant plead?" The Judge asked, and when Fiona didn't reply, the man pressed on. "Miss Gallagher?"

"Not guilty, Your Honor," her voice wavered as she spoke.

"Defense requests the accused to be released on her own recognizance," Fiona's attorney said.

"Cocaine overdose in a toddler?" Another woman demanded. "The child is still in intensive care."

"Bail is set at $100,000," the Judge announced, and Amara's jaw dropped. "Check with the clerk to get a preliminary hearing date. Next."

"Excuse me?!" Veronica called after Fiona's lawyer as they stormed after her out of the courtroom. Amara easily kept up—used to walking quickly where angry Veronica was involved—but still surprised with how fast she was walking while pregnant. "We're Fiona Gallagher's family."

"Okay," came Maria's response, which Amara learned her name to be due to the tag stuck on her blazer.

"One hundred thousand dollars?" Veronica didn't slow as the other woman barely paid her any mind. "She didn't carve up some dude and stuff his parts in the freezer!"

"You don't have to put up 100,00," she told them, her pace slowing when she realized Veronica wasn't going to give away. "County only requires ten percent for the bond."

"Ten grand?" Amara repeated. "Do we look like we can just pull that kind of money out of our asses? We aren't Kim Kardashian."

"They accept collateral of equal value," Maria went on. "A car. A house."

"Literally just said we aren't Kim K," Amara muttered.

"I can try to get it reduced at her preliminary hearing. If the victim recovers—"

"Liam," Veronica corrected.

"If Liam recovers, that could influence the judge to lower the bail. Gotta go."

Maria climbed the steps and was out of sight in seconds. Amara huffed and leaned against the rail as Debbie looked around hopelessly. Veronica sighed and turned to Lip. "Ten thousand dollars?"

"Forget it," he shrugged. "We don't have it."

"We can't just leave her in jail," Debbie stated.

"We don't have the money, Debs," Lip shot back, and Amara tensed at the tone of his voice. It was coming, she could tell. He had his hackles up. She'd been waiting all night and most of the morning for any sort of explosion from him and here it was.

"Well, we can raise it. Via and I can sell cookies or brownies and—"

"No, Christ!" He snapped loudly, and Amara dropped her head. There it was. "Just drop it! Fuck, Debs!" Debbie looked close to tears for a moment before she clenched her jaw and raised her middle finger, walking out towards the door. "Debbie?"

"Nice going, dickhead," Amara glared at him. "Making it your goal to lose both your sisters?"

"Fuck off Amar-"

"Come on," she tugged at Silvia's coat and cut him off before he could start to rant. "Let's go."

★

"Enjoy your meal," Amara said with a forced smile, handing off a few napkins before heading towards the bathroom while stifling a yawn. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, the concealer she put on hardly hid the bags under her eyes, and her hair didn't seem to want to be tamed, even in its ponytail it still managed to puff out. She rested a palm on her eye, before quickly washing her hands, drying them, and heading back into the restaurant.

"Hey," Victor caught her attention by laying a hand on her arm, and she turned to face him. "Boss wants you on tables six through ten since Shelby just called out sick."

"Oh," she nodded. "Right. Thanks."

Amara headed over in the direction, pulling out her notepad and coming to a stop once she reached the table. "Hi, my names Amara and I'll be your waitress for this evening, can I start you off with something to—oh, it's you."

"Don't sound so disappointed," James replied, grinning tiredly up at her. She still couldn't tell why he looked so different. There was definitely something off about him, a hint of sadness surrounding his entire aroma. Or maybe it was just his inner douchebag seeping through. "I gave you a good tip last time."

"You can't buy your way back into my life," she said. "Now hurry up and order so I can get away from you."

"Just a burger, please."

"Anything to drink?"

"Beer?"

She gave him a look. "You're under the age of twenty-one, I literally can't do that."

"I know," he smiled again. "Got you to talk to me more, though."

She scoffed in disgust and stepped back to put his order in with the chef. "You're such a creep. Stop stalking me."

On her break, Amara sat at an empty table to jot down random ideas she'd gotten while working, her pen faltering on the paper once she finished a second paragraph, and when someone cleared their throat. She didn't look up. "Go away, James."

"James?" She glanced at the sound of Lip's voice, and he slid into the booth across from her. "Other boyfriend?"

"Have you found your sister yet?" She asked, ignoring his question. Did he really not remember James? That was odd, usually Lip would jump at the chance to insult him when they were in school. Truth be told, Amara always thought he was jealous.

James used to go to primary with them, but when his father suddenly became a successful business man, he was pulled from their school and moved to an uptown campus for rich people. James had always been weird when they were younger, he'd cut off frog legs at recess and offered them to girls, Lip had always shielded Amara from him.

But the true rivalry started when Lip was still on the baseball team. Their freshman year they went up against Wickton High, and James broke his arm during the game. Lip hated him ever since, even though the other boy had insisted it was an accident. Lip had been an excellent player before then, but he couldn't play for the rest of the season and by the time sophomore year rolled around, James had already graduated, and Lip never got his revenge. He didn't even bother rejoining the team after that.

How did Lip not remember? It seemed absurd, but at the same time, with everything else going on, she couldn't blame him.

"No," he said, leaning his head back against the seat.

"So why are you here?"

"What?" He lifted his gaze to meet her eyes. "Not allowed to check up on my girl at work?"

"Never have before," Amara gave him a skeptical look, scanning over his appearance. "What did you do?"

He rolled his eyes and shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "Nothing. Needed a break from the hospital, that's all. And seeing your face is like a breath of fresh air."

"Nope you definitely did something."

"Didn't. Why do you assume that because I'm being nice I did something?"

"Because you think it'll soften the blow when you tell me and I get mad at you."

"Well I didn't do anything," Lip defended, sitting up straighter. "Now, what did you say about James?"

Amara's phone rang from her pocket, fortunately saving her from answering and she pulled it out to see that it was her grandmother. "Hello?"

"When do you get done?"

"Two hours," she shifted the phone under her ear suspiciously as Lip flicked through the menu on the table. "Why?"

"Just... Well, don't need to worry you about it while you're at work. Never mind it then."

"You called me so it's clearly important," she replied, swatting his hand away when he went to grab her notebook. "What's up?"

"Your sister has locked herself in the bathroom and refuses to leave."

Amara refrained from groaning in annoyance. "Just leave her alone then, she gets moody if you try to interrupt her toilet thoughts."

"She gets moody at everything," Lip murmured.

"I have to... I have to use the restroom, Amara. I might not make it."

"Well stop wasting your time talking to me, and go shit in the downstairs bathroom, Jesus Christ."

"Amara you don't—"

She flipped her phone shut and slipped it back into her pocket to look at Lip, who was raising an eyebrow. "Family problems?"

"Oh look at us," she kicked his foot from under the table. "We really do mirror each other."

★

a/n

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