★

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU took the bait," Mandy admitted, staring at the new jacket Steve/Jimmy had bought her. Recently, the two girls had been hanging out a lot more, and Amara had to admit that she enjoyed the company. Mandy was funny, she had a good heart, and she also knew how to stick up for herself. It was like the two were platonic soulmates, they were practically best friends at this point.

"Hey, he bought me a really expensive pair of shoes too. These are the best shut up gifts I could ever ask for. I've been needing a new coat. You just can't let anyone know that you know, okay?"

"Okay," Mandy replied, settling herself onto the bed. "I can't believe he bought Fiona a house."

"I know! I would die if a guy bought me a house. And the one across the street as been abandoned for years. It used to belong to our old history teacher from like seventh grade."

"Huh," the other girl mused. "I think he offered me money to give him a blowjob once."

Amara gagged, before laughing. "God, men are disgusting."

"Yeah," Mandy agreed. "Totally gross."

★

A few hours later, Amara sat in the Gallagher's living room, fighting over a bowl of popcorn with Ian. "You bitch! This is mine!" He yanked it out of her grasp, the pieces of kettle flying everywhere, some landing and sticking in her hair. Before she knew it, she was breathless with laughter, the entire room echoing with everyone's voices.

Steve walked in, placing his coat on the rack, before stepping into the living room. There was a brief pause when he met Amara's gaze, but she gave a subtle nod, silently telling him she wouldn't say anything. He'd already bought her quite a few things, Silvia and Debbie as well. She wasn't about to completely become a sugar-baby.

"Missed you, stranger," Fiona said, greeting him, and Steve bent down to give her a kiss before sitting next to her on the couch. Amara nearly laughed out loud at how ironic the sentence was.

Steve leaned forward, grabbing some popcorn out of the bowl on the coffee table. "This popcorn is burnt."

"Our microwave sucks," Fiona stated, but then turned to give him a pointed look. "That doesn't mean I want you to buy us a new one." Debbie suddenly walked in, slamming the door behind her, her face as white as a sheet. She almost looked like she'd been crying. "Debs?" Fiona questioned. "Honey, what happened?"

"Dad have one too many again?" Lip asked, and Amara kicked his foot from across the couch.

"You just gotta ignore him when he's like that, Debs," Ian advised.

"Why do you guys always blame dad first?" Debbie wondered, her gaze scanning throughout the group in front of her.

"Who else is there?" Fiona replied, looking confused.

"She's over at Sheila's," Debbie mumbled, and Amara wouldn't have heard it if she weren't so close to her.

"Who?" Steve asked, but Amara had a sense of what she was going to say next.

A thick silence passed over all of them, as one word—one name came out of her mouth. "Monica."

★

The group rushed to Sheila's, none of them said a word on the way there. Amara and Veronica walked in the back, seeing as how neither of them were actually related to the psychotic bitch who left all six of her kids, they were just going to see what would happen.

Fiona quietly pushed the front door open, pushing Liam's stroller inside, and the sound of voices took over her senses. The arguing between Frank and Monica was all too familiar for her, she could remember the constant yelling at her house before her own father left.

"Apologize for that?!" Monica's voice snapped. "For walking out on this piece of shit?!"

"No," Sheila replied calmly, pointing to the group who stood at the door, and Monica turned to look. "For walking out on them."

There was a brief silence as Monica took in the sight of her children, her jaw dropped. "Oh my God."

Veronica and Amara poked their heads around the corner of the wall. "It's all right. We're not one of yours. We just came to rubberneck."

★

Amara sat on the front steps next to Lip, who had his head resting on her shoulder—which was surprising. Lip was never one to cave and talk about his emotions, he'd usually just lash out, or pretend they didn't exist.

Amara was great at reading him, and she tried not to ever push him into talking about how he was feeling. Although, she had gotten better at saying the right thing, which most of the time led to them talking until three in the morning.

Her hand was placed in his hair, and she comfortingly twirled a few strands of it around her fingertips. Neither of them spoke, Amara once again not wanting to force him to talk about his feelings. Him leaning on her was enough to show how upset he was.

He pulled the cigarette away from his lips, blowing the smoke out just as Ian came running down the street. The redhead paused in front of them, catching his breath.

"I thought you were at work," Lip mused, and Ian sat on the set of steps a row down.

"There was a shooting," Ian replied, and she tensed, scanning his appearance for any injuries. Thankfully, he didn't seem to have any. "Mickey and Kash."

"Holy shit," she muttered.

"Mickey shot Kash?" Lip asked, sounding shocked.

"No, Kash shot Mickey."

"What?"

"In the leg. He's fine. Just wanted to get out of there before the cops showed up. What'd I miss with Mom?"

"You know how Frank's a total fucking asshole?"

"Yeah."

"Turns out he's the good one."

More commotion sounded from the inside, and the trio shared looks, before they each pushed themselves up, and walked back into the living room.

"But since you're in town, why don't you sign up for this little thing..." Frank's voice said.

"Fuck you, Frank!" Monica yelled, falling onto the couch.

"Wait," Lip cut in. "You brought her back here? You knew where she was the whole time?"

Amara crossed her arms, leaning against the wall in the middle of Ian and Lip. She was hoping the fight wouldn't turn physical, but if it did, she knew they would protect her. And she hated having to rely on men for protection, but to be fair, she was short and could barely reach anyone's face to throw in a punch.

"Okay, look, this little reunion was bound to happen sooner or later," Monica's girlfriend, Roberta said, leaning down to look at Frank, who was sitting in an arm chair. "We were thinking about coming around here to talk to you."

"No!" Monica protested. "Not now!"

"Yes now!" Roberta snapped. "Moni and I want to take Liam to live with us."

"What?!"

"Over my dead body!" Frank snapped, standing up.

"How about Moni sign whatever the hell it is you need, and we get Liam?" Roberta proposed.

"Done," Frank said.

"No fucking way!" Fiona yelled. "You can't have Liam!"

"Why the hell not?" Monica wondered. "He's not even Frank's!"

"Fact is, Liam is black," Roberta stated. "All you white folks scooping up black babies like fashion accessories have a rude awakening coming."

"Who are you again?" Amara asked sarcastically. "This isn't your business, so butt the hell out! You can't just come in here saying you want to steal a kid—he's not even yours!"

Roberta glowered at the girl, before turning back to Fiona. "You people need to stop underestimating the cultural importance of a black parent raising a black baby. Liam needs me, he's coming with us."

"No," Lip denied. "Out of the fucking question, Roberta!"

"Roberta and I want to start a family of our own," Monica explained.

"Well why don't you finish this one first?" Fiona snapped.

"They're taking Liam?!" Debbie asked, sobbing.

"No!" Fiona screamed, just as Roberta said the opposite.

"No ones taking anyone anywhere," Lip told her.

"You don't just get to abandon your kids," Fiona started, her voice raising as she spoke. "And then show up one day to take your pick of the litter!"

"Oh that's not fair," Frank came to his wife's defense. "Your mother's made mistakes, but she's here now."

"Oh my God you fuckface, shut up! You're just siding with her because you want the money! You have zero morals," Amara broke in, sounding furious as she glared at Frank.

"What did you say to Roberta earlier? For her to mind her business? Well why don't you do the same thing?" Frank demanded. "This isn't even your family!"

"Yes it is," Ian spoke. "Amara's been here for all of us when you haven't. You don't get to decide who's family and who's not, especially since you're trying to trade out Liam for money."

"I—"

"Shut up Frank!" Fiona ordered, and her father fell back into her chair. "This isn't about you!" Her hard gaze turned to her mother. "This is about you. This is about what you didn't do. It's about what I did. And you know what? I did a fucking great job.

"Debbie is class president. She's on the debate team going to nationals. And Lip, he's top of his class. He set the curve. Amara—she's not even your kid, but I fucking raised her too. She's the top writer out of the entire school. She writes the newspapers, she'll be a famous journalist one day. Ian was promoted in ROTC, and he tested out of English. And Carl, made something blow up for his science project. And you know what?" Fiona asked, her voice cracking as tears began to slide down her face. "They did it all, no thanks to you because you weren't here!"

"And I appreciate that, Fiona," Monica said thickly, blinking away tears. "But...I'm here now, and Liam belongs with me."

"Mother of the year," Amara mumbled, low enough so no one could hear her.

"He doesn't even know who you are!" Fiona said, clearly exasperated with the situation.

"I'm his mother!"

"You were my mother too!" Fiona screamed, and the tears that Amara had been struggling to hold back finally managed to escape. She lifted an arm to quickly wipe them away before anyone saw.

Another silence passed, and Monica shook her head. "Maybe I'll never be able to make things right with you, but there's still time with Liam. And Debbie and Carl." She rushed over to the two pre-teens, crouching in front of them. "I'm so sorry if I ever hurt you. Please," she begged, when neither of them said anything. "I love you so much. Please let me be your mommy again. Please." After a moment, Debbie leaned forward to give Monica a hug, Carl following after her, and copying the action.

Fiona sighed, and walked over to the door. "You know what? You're right," she said, and Amara stared at her in shock, still fighting off tears. "You are their mother. And you're here now, so I'm done. I'm done with the school, the clinics, and the bills. I'm done. They're all yours now, mom. Good luck."

Fiona placed the house keys onto the table, before turning on her heel, and exiting the house, leaving the rest of them to stand there, stunned. Monica attempted to comfort Carl and Debbie, but they both pulled out of her embrace.

Amara stared at Lip and Ian, the three oldest now not knowing what the hell to do.

Fiona left. She was gone.

★

a/n

all i can say is...chaotic