―

Hannah and Veronica sat at the kitchen counter in shock, the former having to put down her bagel out of disgust.

"You let some dude finger you last night on the L?" Veronica exclaimed.

"You make it sound so filthy," Fiona said, putting food back in the fridge, "And he's not just any dude."

Hannah and Veronica shared a look, "No, he's your boyfriend's brother."

"I know." Fiona sighed.

"Your boss's brother." Veronica added.

"Your boss boyfriend's brother." Hannah added up as she put her leftover bagel into the dog bowl on the floor, Iris eagerly finishing it for her.

"I know, okay?" Fiona cried, "I can't explain it."

"I can," V said, "Remember Shawn?" Did speedballs in front of Carl? You stayed with him for what, five months?"

"And then it was Jason, right?" Hannah asked, grabbing her school bag.

Veronica nodded, "Jason with the anger issues."

Hannah let out a ham, "I mean, if you consider stabbing a guy for jumping the line at the Cracker Barrel an issue."

Fiona rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I get it."

"And then there was JimmySteve," V finished, "The lying, married car thief. Fi, this job is a good thing for you." She reminded her best friend.

"It was a mistake, okay?" Fiona huffed, slamming the fridge door shut, "It's over."

Veronica gave her stern look as she stood to grab her coat, "It better be. Han and I can't be over here Dr. Phil-ing your ass."

Hannah nodded in agreement as she was kneeling down and stroking Iris, "And if this continues, our rates will increase."

"I got to go to the Alibi." Veronica said, shrugging on her coat and scarf.

Fiona raised an eyebrow, "This early?"

"Yeah, it saves Kev from having to pay Kate overtime."

"Is he still freaking out about the babies?" The eldest Gallagher asked.

Veronica nodded, "And the bar. Payroll taxes are due next week. Business license has to be renewed, utilities."

"Let me know if there's any way I can help." Hannah told the woman, who smiled at her.

"Has anyone seen my lip gloss?" Debbie exclaimed, stomping into the kitchen.

"Well, hi, Debs." Veronica rolled her eyes, before leaving.

Hannah chuckled as she grabbed her yellow coat as Debbie's eyes widened once she noticed Liam eating her lip gloss, "Carl!" She cried.

Hannah winced, rubbing her ear, "Ow."

"What?" The boy rolled his eyes as he came downstairs.

"You're supposed to make Liam breakfast." Debbie told him, snatching her makeup from the youngest Gallagher.

"It's not my job."

"It is your job."

"Relax, relax," Fiona said, stopping an argument from happening as she gave Liam a pop tart, "Here, more nutritious than makeup," She sang, before turning to her younger sibling, hands on her hips and a grin on her face, "Made a big sale yesterday. Ten thousand units."

There was silence in the room as Hannah put her coat on.

"'Congrats, Fiona! Great job! We're so proud of you!'" Fiona rolled her eyes at the lack of enthusiasm in the room.

Hannah smiled, kissing her sister on the cheek, "Proud of you, Fi," She said, making the brunette smile as Hannah glanced at the two middle schoolers, "Good luck with that." She said, before opening the backdoor and letting out a whistle, which made Iris perk up and rush to her owner's side as the pair left the house and made their way to the diner - where Sally would be looking after Iris for the day.

―

"Right, Mickey, what did you- holy fuck!" Hannah exclaimed as she stared at the shouting Russian prostitutes in front of her.

"Oh, thank fuck you're here," Mickey sighed, leading her into the house and facing her towards the foreign women, "Translate."

Hannah's face scrunched up in confusion as she turned to look up at the older boy, "What?"

"Translate." Mickey repeated with a shrug.

"Mickey. They're Russian."

"Yeah."

"Russian whores."

"Exactly," Mickey nodded, "You speak their language."

Hannah leaned back slightly as she raised a judgemental eyebrow at him, "You think I speak Russian whore?"

"You go to a fancy school!" Mickey exclaimed, "You speak all that fancy shit."

"Latin!" Hannah yelled at him, "We study Latin!"

"Then what fucking use are you?" Mickey cried, before turning to his wife, "Tell them to shut the fuck up!"

"You take jobs away!" Svetlana snapped back at him.

"Yeah, I know. And I will think of something!" Mickey told her, his hands flying in the air.

"They say you are stupid, fucking idiot!"

"Well, what did you say back?"

"That you also have small dick!"

Hannah let out a bark of laughter, "Jeez, I'm meant to hate you, but you're actually pretty funny," She chuckled, her smile suddenly dropping when Svetlana fixed her a look. The redhead cleared her throat, "Uh, comrade." She muttered, saluting the woman before rushing after Mickey.

"Jesus Christ, what happened to a man's home being his fucking castle?" Mickey huffed as he grabbed a beer from his fridge and Hannah made it a point to shove her way in between Mandy and her boyfriend - who glared down at her, but Hannah only replied with a smug smirk.

"Three things," Terry spoke up, reading the paper as his feet were kicked up on the table, "This is my home. You do have a small dick. And you started this all because you thought your wife is worth more than a couple of bucks a lay. Let me tell you from experience. She's not."

"Charming." Hannah rolled her eyes as one of the prostitutes approached Mickey and started yelling at him in Russian.

"I don't know what the fuck you're saying!" Mickey screamed, the woman continuing to scream and following him out of the kitchen, "Oh, my God! I don't know what that means! Look, don't worry! We'll get a dick in you as soon as we can! Fuck."

The front door opened and everyone turned to see Debbie standing sheepishly at the entrance of the Milkovich house, "Hi. Uh, is Mandy home?"

―

Debbie cringed as she Mandy's bedroom door behind her, jumping when she turned to see Hannah leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, "Jeez, Hannah!"

"You break up with him?"

Debbie rolled her eyes with a huff as she turned around and left the house, "Yes."

"Then what were you talking to Mandy about that you apparently couldn't talk about to me?" Hannah wondered as she followed her sister out onto the street.

"None of your business."

Hannah grabbed Debbie's wrist, stopping the younger girl from walking away, "It is my business, because I'm trying to keep you safe."

"Oh my God, I was asking her for advice with this guy in my class." Debbie huffed.

Hannah raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Yes," Debbie nodded, "I broke up with Matty like you asked, now just leave me alone." She glared at Hannah before stalking down the street.

―

"You guys are paying, right?" Mickey asked as he, Ellie, Adam and Hannah approached the Alibi.

"You realise we're the ones helping you with your whore issue, right?" Adam asked.

Mickey only stared back at him, "So are you payin', or?"

"Yeah, we'll fucking pay." Ellie rolled her eyes with a chuckle as she flung open the door to the bar.

"Jesus Christ, Russian whores know how to run their mouths when there ain't some dude's junk jammed in there." Mickey huffed.

"Just focus on the beer." Ellie told the older boy as Mickey noticed Lip sitting at the bar.

"Weren't you supposed to be at college or some shit?"

Hannah stared at her brother with a raised eyebrow, "Yeah, aren't you supposed to be at college ot some shit."

"Nope," Lip smirked, "Packing up my Kant and Milton Friedman. I'm done with all that crap."

Adam reached out and took his girlfriend's hand in his when he saw the glare on her face and her clenched jaw, "Breathe."

―

Hannah sat a few tables away from Lip and Kevin as the man poured another pint from over the bar. The redhead sat staring at the pair, her leg shaking violently as she listened to the conversation across from her.

"Han." Ellie whispered, placing a gentle hand on her best friend's arm.

"I'm so gonna kill him if he doesn't go back." Hannah muttered.

"Removing my hand." Ellie muttered, doing just that as she shared a look with her twin.

"You were joking, right, about not going back to college?" Kevin asked Lip as he placed a beer in front of him, glancing over at the younger Gallagher a few tables away.

Lip nodded, "Serious. I'm done."

"I was hoping you were blowing off some steam."

"Well, the truth is, it's not only up to me," Lip shrugged, "My grades suck. But the only reason I'm going back there is to pack my shit and split."

"So you quit. Then what?" Kev asked.

Lip shrugged, "I'll figure it out."

Kevin shook his head with a scoff.

"What?"

"Grow a pair."

Lip raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Tough it out, man. What are you, a pussy?"

"It's like I said. It's not only up to me."

Kevin levelled the boy with a look, "You're resourceful. You'll figure it out."

Lip took a long drag of his cigarette, "Look, Kev, this is the first good day I've had since I left for that shithole."

"Lip, do you want to end up like me?" Kevin asked him, "Clawing for every penny, praying that you can figure out some way to support your family? Because that's what I'm going through. I got bills up to my ass and I don't have a sister who is willing to get rid of all her own work and stuff just to give me a laptop for essays," He exclaimed, his head nodding over to where Hannah was sitting, "Okay, and let me tell you something. It fucking sucks."

"Well, you're resourceful," Lip shrugged, "You'll figure it out."

Hannah let out a scoff as she stood up and walked to the restrooms, her fists clenched.

Kev watched her walk away, before standing up and leaning on his chair as he attempted to get through to Lip one more time, "All right. College is a racket, huh? Well, guess what? There's no one better at beating the system than you. Hell, man, you got them to give you four fucking years for free. Why don't you get your damn diploma, spit in their faces and have a fucking future?"

"Kev, I am trying to drink my beer, enjoy being back home." Lip said with an eyeroll.

"This isn't your home," Kevin told him, "It's where you grew up. It's not where you're supposed to be."

"And what, now you're the arbiter on where everybody's supposed to be?"

"Yeah, maybe," Kevin shrugged as he grabbed a tray and started to clean up the table, "If I knew what arbiter meant."

"Someone with the power to settle an argument." Adam called out from where he was sitting.

"Thank you." Kev sent the boy a thumbs up.

"I'm getting pretty damn tired of everybody telling me where I should be and what I should be doing." Lip said.

"Then stop making them have to! Grow the fuck up!" Kevin snapped.

Lip rolled his eyes with a small scoff, putting his cigarette out and standing up, "Um, thanks for the beers, Kev."

"Yeah, you're welcome." Kev waved him off.

"GFY." Lip told him as he shrugged on his coat and left the bar.

"Yeah, TGIF."

Adam quickly stood up, grabbing his coat and making his way for the door, clapping Kevin on the back, "That's Katy Perry, man."

Pushing the door open and wrapping his coat tighter around his body, Adam looked around before spotting Lip storming away from the building, "Lip!" He called, jogging after the older boy - who turned around with a sigh as he ran his hands through his hair.

"You gonna tell me how I'm being a prick and an idiot?" Lip asked.

"No, I think Hannah has her own speech prepared for that," Adam said, making Lip look down at his beat up trainers, "You know she looks up to you, right?"

Lip looked over at his sister's boyfriend, "She does?"

"Yeah," Adam nodded, "Big time. And you quitting is gonna kill her."

Lip shook his head, "She's strong."

"She can go to college." Adam told him.

"'Course she fucking can."

"She only thinks she can because you proved to her that it's possible."

Lip's eyebrows creased in confusion, "What?"

"She looks up to you," Adam repeated, "And, for what it's worth, I personally think it'd be a shame for you not to go back." He added, before turning away and going back into the Alibi.

―

Hannah let out a small sigh as she jogged up the stairs of Gallagher house, finding her eldest sibling in the bathroom, towel drying her hair.

"So," The redhead crossed her arms as she leant against the doorway, "You fucked the brother again?"

Fiona turned to her with a sigh, "V told you?"

"Of course she told me." Hannah chuckled.

Fiona dragged a hand across her face, "I seriously don't know what's wrong with me. I mean, I have this amazing-" The sound of sobbing and Debbie's bedroom door slamming cut her off. The two shared a look before venturing down the hall.

"Debbie?" Hannah called out, only for the sobbing to grow louder.

"Hey. What's going on?" Fiona asked as they reached the door, only for the lock to click before they could get to their sister, "Hey, you okay?"

"What's going on, Debs?" Hannah asked through the door, though she had a sneaking suspicion she knew, "Come on, open up. Talk to us, please." She said, the pair stepping back when the lock clicked again and the door opened slightly.

Hannah went in first, frowning when she saw her youngest sister lying on her bed, clutching a pillow to her chest as she cried into it.

"Hey, what's going on?" Fiona asked as she sat on the bed and rubbed Debbie's back, while Hannah knelt in frotn of her, running a hand through Debbie's hair.

Debbie turned to Fiona with a sniffle, "My boyfriend. I messed up."

Fiona nodded slightly, "How?"

Debbie looked away from Fiona, catching eyes with Hannah who was looking at her with a questioning gaze. The slight nod from Debbie confirmed what Hannah had thought.

The older redhead leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Debbie's forehead, "It's okay."

Fiona leaned over to move the hair out of Debbie's face, "You screwed up. That just proves you're a Gallagher," She whispered as another sob escaped Debbie's lips. Fiona placed a kiss on Debbie's shoulder, "Let me let you in on a little secret. I don't know what the hell I'm doing either."

Hannah let out a small chuckle, "No shit."

"Who doesn't know that?" Debbie muttered, making both of sisters laugh, "I just wish I could skip the part where I don't know the right thing to do and get to the part where I do." The youngest sister sighed.

Fiona gently ran her fingers through Debbie's hair, "Me, too."

"We're here, okay?" Hannah reminded the girl as she held her hand and she and Fiona held her close.

―

That night, Hannah was drifting in and out of sleep when her phone lit up on the nightstand. Glancing over to make sure Adam was still asleep, she reached over for the device, making Adam shift slightly as he tightened his arms around her waist - which only made Hannah smile.

Opening her phone, the girl raised an eyebrow at the sight of a text from her eldest brother.

Gonna try and go take my midterm. Sorry for pissing you off.
Love you.

i guess it's okay. love you too