―

The night continued in a hazy blur. Hannah lost count of how many times she'd pinched herself to check it was real. It was. Her now blazing red arm proved that for her.

Her brother could be dying behind those closed doors.

Because of Fiona.

She didn't want to feel this intense, burning resentment for her eldest sister, but she could feel it simmering inside of her regardless. And it was starting to boil into rage.

Sitting across from the girl, her boyfriend and best friend stared at her in worry. They knew she needed her space right now, so they made sure to give it to her. But they kept a close eye on her, just in case.

"They probably took her to District Six for booking. That's where they usually take you before they transfer you to County."

It her a moment to realise that Kevin was talking to her and Lip, though neither Gallaghers could find it in them to acknowledge or respond to the man. The pair were sat a few seats down from the others, staring down the corridor as they waited for someone to come and update them on their little brother.

"She's gonna need a lawyer. You got anybody you want us to call?"

Still no reply.

"Guys?"

Lip's gaze didn't waver, "Yeah?"

"Is there a lawyer you want us to use? I used a guy on Calumet a couple years ago for that DUI thing I had, you know? He smells like dirty dish towels but if you breathe through your mouth, it's bearable." Kevin told them with a breath of a chuckle.

If Hannah was in a better state of mind, she would have appreciated Kevin's attempt at trying to lighten up the mood. But she wasn't. Right now, her mind was clouded. She hadn't spoken since she got in the ambulance. And she couldn't. Not yet. Not until she could hold her little brother's hand again.

"Thank you for coming with me."

"I didn't come for you."

"Fiona Gallagher?"

The two eldest Gallaghers leapt out of their seat as a nurse approached the group.

"Philip Gallagher." Lip introduced, "This is Hannah."

"Is Fiona here?"

Lip shook his head, "No."

The nurse looked between to two, "Will she be back?"

"No, not soon. We're Liam's brother and sister." Lip told her.

"Is there another parent or legal guardian available?"

Lip shook his head as Hannah wrapped her arms around herself, "No. Is Liam gonna be ok?"

The nurse sighed, "I'm sorry. I really need a responsible adult present to-"

"Look, my mom is a bipolar drug addict who split years ago, and my dad is a drunk, and the cops just hauled Fiona off to jail, okay? Look, we're the only thing that passes or a responsible adult that you're gonna find." Lip snapped, yet in a surprisingly calm voice, "Now, how is Liam?"

"Please." Hannah finally whispered.

The woman nodded, "Your brother came in with acute cocaine toxicity. Disoriented, hallucinating and with a dangerously elevated heart rate. He's on Naloxone for his altered mental status and benzodiazepine to control his seizures."

"Seizures?" Debbie gasped out, making Elodie wrap an arm around the girl.

"We're monitoring his temperature, his heart rate and his glucose levels, but he has started to settle down."

V took a step forward, "Can we see him?"

The nurse frowned, "I'm sorry. Only immediate family members over 18 are allowed in the PICU."

Veronica put her hand on the older Gallaghers' shoulders, "Go. We'll stay here with Carl and Debs." She told them softly.

Lip and Hannah looked at each other, swallowing thickly as they thought of just how glad they were that Hannah always carried her fake I.D. with her. The pair turned slowly and followed the nurse through the sterile hospital corridors, passing mourning families, busy hospital staff and rooms with beeping monitors that seemed to echo through the halls, the sound combating with the beating of their hearts thumping in their ears.

Walking into the PICU, they stopped short at the sight of their little brother - their Liam - lying on a hospital bed. Hannah let out a choked sob, one hand latching onto Lip's arm as the other covered her mouth.

There he lay, an oxygen mas on his face and connected to all kinds of wires. The real punch to the gut was the fact his hands were tied down.

The nurse smiled sadly at the two, "You can touch him."

"Why is he tied down?" Lip numbly asked.

"He was agitated and hurting himself. It's not unusual in cocaine overdoses." She said.

Hannah sniffed, "I-Is he gonna be ok?"

"Well, it's early yet, but cocaine overdoses aren't usually fatal." The woman told them, "He did have several seizures and that can lead to intellectual decline."

Lip's face twitched, "Brain damage?"

"Learning and language problems." The nurse nodded sadly, "Emotional and behavioural disorders. The developing brain is delicate. You're gonna need to consult with a paediatric neurologist to monitor any possible long-term deficit."

Hannah let out a shaky breath as she leaned her forehead against Lip's arm, her eyes squeezing shut as her body betrayed her and a few stray tears fell down her face. Lip's grip on her hand tightened.

"Look, your little brother is a... He's a tough guy. He's strong. If I was a betting woman, my money would be on a full recovery." The nurse gave them a tight smile, gently squeezing Lip's shoulder before she left to the siblings a space.

Letting go of Lip, Hannah's hands trembled as they each went to Liam's side. She reached down and gently took Liam's hand, her eyes trained on his chest with each breath he took.

"Hey." Lip whispered, taking Liam's hand from the other side, "It's okay. Here we go."

Leaning over the railing, Hannah placed a light kiss on the boy's forehead, "We're here, bud." She told him quietly, meeting Lip's eyes.

The pair looked at each other for a moment. They knew what the other was thinking, and they could only be glad they were in this together.

―

Hannah let out a heavy sigh as she hung up her phone and leant her head on Lip's shoulder as the pair sat on the floor of one of the hospital corridors around the corner from the PICU.

"Hey, anything new?" Kevin asked as he approached them, but the pair didn't have an answer - even of they did, they were far too tired to give him one, "We got Deb and Carl into bed. V is gonna stay with them. We also fed the dog. And I got a hold of the cops. They're moving Fiona to Women's County. We can catch up to her over there for her arraignment." He listed off.

Hannah could only give him a small nod of thanks, her eyes starting to droop.

"What's that?" The man asked, gesturing to the clipboard on Lip's lap.

"Admissions paperwork." Hannah muttered.

"'Insurance'? None. 'Employer'? None. 'Credit card number'?"

"None." Hannah finished for Lip as he wrote the word repeatedly in the boxes.

"Jesus." Lip ran a hand through his hair, "Maybe they will let us wash dishes in the cafeteria."

Hannah shrugged tiredly, "I have some cash saved from the diner. Probably wouldn't even cover the pain killers, though." She mumbled, bringing her knees up to her chest.

"No, fuck that." Kev shook his head vehemently, "They gotta treat him. They're not gonna kick a sick toddler to the curb because he doesn't have a gold card."

"Well, that doesn't mean they're not gonna send a collection agency our way." Lip told him.

"What, you're worried they're gonna fuck up your credit rating?" Kevin asked as he stopped his pacing, leaning against the wall, "Fiona's bail hearing is around noon sometime. I left a message with that lawyer-"

"No."

Kevin stared at the two of them, "No, what?"

Lip let out a small, sarcastic scoff, "What? Lawyer work for free?"

"V and I can front you some cash."

"What, front us some cash like we're ever gonna be able to pay you back?" Lip glared.

"She needs a lawyer." Kevin told them.

"And she'll get one." Lip said.

Hannah nodded, lifting her head from Lip's shoulder, "The PD's office will handle it."

Kevin scoffed, "Are you fucking kidding me? An overworked public defender straight out of law school- with a couple hundred cases?"

"Works for me." Lip mumbled, continuing to fill the form in.

Kevin stared at the two, practically feeling the anger rolling off of them, "It was an accident, you guys."

Lip didn't look up, "If you say so."

"This is some heavy shit, kids." Kevin snapped, "Illegal drugs, a three-year-old? She might end up doing some serious time. She's family."

Hannah levelled his stare with a blank expression, "Family don't nearly kill each other."

Lip sighed, checking the time on his phone, "It's almost five. I've got a quantum physics quiz in three hours. Guess I'm gonna miss it, huh?" He said, tiredly standing up.

Hannah followed his lead and the pair left the hallway, leaving Kevin shaking his head.

The girl glanced up at her brother, "You can go take you exam if you want. I'll hold the fort here."

Lip smiled slightly, shaking his head as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "No way am I leaving you or Liam here alone."

"We can handle it." She shrugged, "We're fucking Gallaghers."

Lip smirked, rubbing her shoulders, "Fucking Gallaghers. Yeah, we can handle it."

―

The dark circles under Hannah's eyes twitched as she banged her fist on the vending machine, "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

"Eat your money?" A familiar voice asked and she turned her head to see the twins approaching her, dressed in their school uniforms.

"Doesn't surprise me with how the last twenty-four hours have gone." Hannah answered Ellie as she leaned into Adam's side.

"Mom made you and Lip breakfast." Elodie smiled sadly, handing the girl a large tupperware box.

"God, I love Sally." Hannah muttered.

"We uh, we talked to her about- about defending Fiona." Adam said, making Hannah lift her head.

"And?" She asked, an unreadable expression on her face.

"She said she can't." Ellie told her, "Conflict of interest."

"Good." Hannah sighed, sitting down on one of the chairs.

Adam's eyebrows creased in confusion, "Good?"

"Her mess." Hannah shrugged, "She can get herself out of it. My priority right now is Liam."

The siblings shared a look with each other before the girl's boyfriend turned back to her, asking, "Han? Have you slept at all?"

The redhead shrugged as the boy crouched by her side and took her hand in his, "Can't. Not until Liam's awake."

Elodie nodded softly, coming to her other side and running a hand through her best friend's hair, "Need our mom to call the school? Pretend to be Monica? You can't go like this."

"Did that this morning." Hannah told them, "I've not missed a day since I joined. As far as they know, I'm gonna be on a Caribbean cruise for the next month and will work remotely - enough people do it. "

Adam raised an eyebrow, "A month."

Hannah nodded, "Figured I'll need at least that to do damage control. But hey, it's the Caribbean. It's so sunny here. Yay." She smiled sarcastically.

Adam rubbed her shoulder comfortingly, "You sure you don't want us to come to the hearing?"

Hannah shook her head, "No. You guys go to school. Would you mind telling Theo what happened? Tell him why I'm gonna miss the next couple of rehearsals?"

Elodie nodded, as Adam placed a kiss on her forehead, "Okay, well, I'll call you at lunch, alright?"

Hannah nodded and smiled with a meek whisper, "Thank you."

Elodie squeezed her hand, "We love you."

"I love you both, too. Just in very different ways."

―

The feeling of being jostled about my Lip's shoulder made Hannah wake up from her unintended nap. Glancing up at her older brother, she saw him with the phone to his ear, a pained look on his face.

Meeting her gaze, he saw the worried look on her face, "It's the prison. A call request."

Hannah raised an eyebrow, "Fiona."

Lip nodded, "Do I answer it?"

Hannah sighed heavily before nodding, making Lip accept the call.

"Yeah." He said as he listened to Fiona through the phone, "What, Liam?"

Hannah watched as Lip swallowed thickly, angrily wiping away tears, "He's alive. He's in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit." He nodded slightly at something Fiona was saying, "Sure. Yeah, he's strapped down because he was hurting himself. He's on a ton of drugs and an IV and could have permanent brain damage but he's gonna live. Are you still there?"

"Mr. Gallagher?" The pair turned to see the nurse walking over to them.

"Gotta go." Lip said, quickly hanging up as he and Hannah followed the nurse.

Hannah didn't want to ask, but curiosity got the best of her, "What did she say?"

"Uh, she- she was crying." Lip told her, putting his phone in his back pocket, "And she said she was sorry."

Hannah's impassive impression didn't change as they followed the nurse into PICU

"So his heart rate and his blood pressure have returned to normal and his glucose levels have stabilized. That means we're gonna move him downstairs to a bed in the general paediatrics ward as soon as one becomes available." The woman explained.

The siblings nodded, "Okay."

"He should be ready to be discharged then in, like, I don't know, a day or two." The nurse told them.

A relieved smile fluttered onto Hannah's face as Lip said, "Good. That's good."

"Yeah." The nurse nodded before leading them to a redheaded woman, "Philip, Hannah, this is Ms. Matlock. She's from Social Services."

"Anne, Mr. Gallagher." The woman shook Lip's hand.

"Hi."

"Your sister is your brother's legal guardian?" Anne clarified, flipping through the casefile in her hands.

"Along with our father, yeah." Hannah nodded, crossing her arms and bringing them close to her chest.

"Was your father at home when the incident with Liam occurred?"

"No, no, he wasn't there." Lip shook his head.

"Do you know where your father is?" Anne asked.

Lip could only shrug, "No, I have no idea."

Anne raised an eyebrow, "He doesn't live in the home?"

"No, I've been away at college, so I don't know." Lip frowned.

"He comes and goes." Hannah supplied.

Anne nodded, "Do you know where we can find him?"

"No."

"And your sister is in police custody?"

"Yeah."

"You're gonna need to find your father before Liam is ready to be released, or we're gonna have to place him into foster care." Anne told them.

"Can I take responsibility for him?" Lip asked, "I'm an adult - eighteen."

"I know you're eighteen." Anne nodded, sending a pointed look towards Hannah.

"O-Oh." The girl realised she'd been caught, "I-I'm sorry. It was an emergency and my brothers needed me-"

"I'll turn a blind eye. This time." Anne told her sternly and Hannah could practically feel herself deflate in relief as the woman turned back to Lip, "And you're away at college, right?"

"Yeah, but I'll quit." Lip nodded, making his sister's head snap towards him, "You know, I can take him."

Anne sighed, collecting her things, "You can petition the court but that takes time. Your father is the quicker solution if you wanna keep your brother out of foster care, even temporarily."

"Okay." Lip nodded as she walked away.

"Thank you." Hannah muttered as she passed.

"Would you like to see him?" The nurse asked.

The pair nodded quickly, "Yes."

"Okay." The nurse nodded, leading them to Liam - who was sat up and playing with a dinosaur toy, "Hey, buddy. Look who I brought."

Lip and Hannah couldn't fight the grins on their face as they rushed to hug Liam, bringing the small boy between them - being mindful of all the wires still surrounding him.

"Hey, how you doing?"

"Hi."

"Hi, monkey man!"

Hannah let out a heavy sigh as she cradled the boy's head against her chest, "You're okay. You're okay." She whispered, reaching out to take her eldest brother's hand, too.

―

Hannah let out a huff of air, a hand coming up to rub her forehead as she and the rest of her family waited for Fiona's hearing to begin. A soft hand on the girl's shoulder made her look up to see the sympathetic smiles of Sally and Mark. Hannah sent them a small smile as they sat on her left side, Sally taking her hand firmly in her own motherly grasp as they all watched a small string of prisoners enter the small cell in the courtroom, Fiona entering last.

Hannah studied her older sister. Her hair was unbrushed and matted, her face was pale and tearstained, and there were prominent dark circles under her eyes.

Looking over at her family, she caught Debbie's eye and girl sent her a small wave. Fiona did her best to return the gesture with her hands handcuffed behind her back.

A gavel banged and all eyes turned to the judge as one of the men in a suit read out, "Fiona Gallagher. Case S6-974356."

"Is counsel present?" The judge asked.

"Yes, Your Honor." Fiona's Defense Attorney - a woman named Maria -said, standing by the cell window and prompting Fiona to do the same.

"Read the charges."

"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."

Hannah squeezed Sally's hand, not missing the way the woman's face tensed at the amount of charges.

"How does the defendant plead?" The judge asked, but Fiona was staring at her family, "Miss Gallagher?"

Fiona turned to look back at the man, her voice wavering as she said, "Not guilty, Your Honor.

Hannah and Lip glanced at each other.

"Defense requests the accused be released on her own recognizance." Maria told the judge.

"Cocaine overdose in a toddler?" Another lawyer asked, "The child is still in intensive care."

The judge nodded, "Bail is set at $100,000. Check with the clerk to get a preliminary hearing date. Next." And he banged the gavel.

―

"Excuse me!" Veronica called as the group followed Maria to the front of the courthouse - each of them surprised at how fast the pregnant woman moved.

Maria didn't stop, "Yes?"

"We're Fiona Gallagher's family."

"Okay."

"One hundred thousand dollars?" Veronica scoffed, "She didn't carve some dude up and stuff his parts in the freezer!"

"You don't have to put up 100,000. County only requires ten percent for the bond." Maria said, finally stopping and turning to them.

V's eyebrows shot up, "Ten grand?"

"They accept collateral of equal value, a house, a car. I can try to get it reduced at her preliminary hearing." Maria said, "If the victim recovers-"

"Liam." Veronica corrected.

"Liam recovers, that could influence the judge to lower her bail. Gotta go." Maria told them before darting up the stairs.

Veronica turned the two older Gallaghers - who were sat on a nearby bench - with a frown, "$10,000?"

Hannah only sighed as she shook her head, Lip saying, "Forget it. We don't have it."

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

"We don't have the money, Debs." Hannah told her tiredly.

"Well, we can raise it. We can sell stuff and-"

"No! Christ! Just drop it!" Lip cried.

There it was. Hannah had been waiting for Lip to snap since the night before. She couldn't blame him and she was surprised he hadn't blown up sooner. The girl knew she wasn't far behind him, trying to keep everything together was exhausting

"Fuck, Debs!"

The young girl's jaw clenched as she tried to keep her tears at bay. Thrusting her middle finger in Lip's face, she stormed off, out of the courthouse.

"Debbie!" Lip called after her, standing up.

V held her hand out and followed after the girl, "Debbie?"

Kevin gave Lip a look, "Smooth, asshole. Smooth."

Lip let out a sigh, "Look, we gotta find Frank, or they're gonna put Liam into foster care."

"Shit."

"Yeah." Lip nodded, turning to his little brother, "Carl, I want you to go back to the hospital with Hannah, all right? Stay with Liam, keep us updated on how he's doing."

Carl nodded as Hannah stood up and wrapped an around him.

"We'll drive you there on our way back." Mark told them.

"Thank you." Hannah smiled slightly.

Carl's eyes lit up as he and Hannah left the building with Mark and Sally, "Do you guys drive a Lamborghini?"

Sally chuckled, "No, sweetie."

Hannah leaned down, muttering in his ear, "Just a sick Tesla."

"Awesome!"

―

Hannah sat on Liam's hospital bed - which was now thankfully in the general paediatrics ward - the toddler sat on her lap as they played with one of the toys the hospital had.

The girl glanced up with a raised eyebrow as Carl came into the ward, slumping in the chair next to Liam's bed, "Nothing good in the vending machine?"

Carl shook his head, "Nope."

"Does that mean I'm gonna get my money back?"

"Nope."

Hannah smiled, "Swindling me out of five bucks? I've taught you well."

A short silence settled around them - it wasn't awkward, but Hannah knew there was something Carl wanted to say.

"What's up?" She asked the boy as she waved the dinosaur in Liam's face.

"Why are you and Lip so mad at Fiona?"

Hannah paused her movements, sighing and moving Liam so he was sitting next to her on the bed, "I thought that would be pretty obvious."

"Well, it is and it isn't." Carl shrugged, "It was an accident. She feels bad. Liam's okay." He listed off, "Feels like the next step should be fighting to get her out of jail."

A small, sad smile tugged at the corner of Hannah's lips. When did her little brother become so perceptive?

Running a hand through her hair, the redhead said, "I think it's different for us. Me and Lip. We're older y'know?" She shrugged, bring one of her feet up to rest on the bed and resting her chin on her knee, "We probably see things from a different view."

"That doesn't really answer my question." Carl said, playing her fingers.

Hannah let out a heavy breath, "It's not that she had the coke. That's not what I'm so mad about." She told him, "It's that she had the coke laid out in the kitchen, with Liam, you and Debbie there too. And she had no-one watching you guys."

Carl looked up from his fingers and watched his frowning sister run her hand through Liam's hair.

"She's our guardian, Carl. From now until we're eighteen. She's meant to look after us." The girl stated, "I mean, what's gonna happen when I go to college? I need to know that you guys are gonna be safe when I'm gone." She said, moving her hand down to caress Liam's cheek, her thumb running it affectionately.

Carl smiled, "You've been thinking about college?"

Looking over at him, Hannah couldn't help but copy his smile, "Yeah." She nodded, "Yeah, I have."

―

Hannah let out a tired sigh as she followed Carl into the house. She hadn't been home since she left in the ambulance with Liam and Fiona the night before, and quite frankly, she didn't want to be there.

Walking into the living room, Hannah grinned as Iris ran up to her, jumping up and licking her face, tail wagging. The girl let out a laugh before freezing at the sight of a young boy watching porn on their couch.

"The fuck is this?"

"Chuckie. Our nephew." Carl told her, "Is Frank here?" He asked the boy, ignoring the look on Hannah's face. Chuckie barely nodded his head in answer, "Is your mom here?" Another scarce nod, "Is anybody else?" At the shake of Chuckie's head, Carl sighed and went upstairs.

Hannah took in the sight of her 'nephew' watching the television, his eyes never leaving the screen, with a small grimace.

"Okay, then." She muttered, stroking Iris' head as she walked into the kitchen and put the takeout she got from the diner on the counter, starting to plate it up for Carl and Debbie.

"Carl? Hannah?" Lip's voice rang through the house, along with the door closing, "Yo, Carl!"

"He's upstairs." Hannah called back, making a pot of coffee as Lip entered the kitchen, "Got you a burger." She said, gesturing to the brown paper bag on the counter, "Figured we could take it back to the hospital."

"Thanks." Lip nodded, giving her a small hug as Carl came down the stairs into the kitchen, "Hey, I thought you were supposed to be at the hospital."

"The nurses told us to go home." Carl shrugged.

"Dinner." Hannah told him, gesturing to the food on the counter before she turned back to Lip, "Sally's with Liam at the moment. He's sleeping and she's sat with him as she knits a bear." She smiled, Lip doing the same, "I wanted to get the kids dinner and into bed before we went back for the night."

Lip nodded as Carl sat at the counter, picking up his burger, "Frank is upstairs," He told them, "Knocked out on Oxy."

Hannah smiled sarcastically, "Our loving father."

Lip gestured back to the living room, "Who's on the sofa watching porn?"

"Nephew."

Lip's eyebrows shot up at his brother's response, "What?"

"Nurses said Liam was resting comfortably." Carl shrugged.

"No, the nephew." Lip clarified.

"Chuckie." Hannah rolled her eyes as she poured some dog food into Iris' bowl - the border collie's tail wagging so fast at the sight of dinner that Hannah thought she might take off.

"Oh, Frank says he is but he could just be lying to get a liver. We also got a new sister upstairs. She's in the shower." Carl said, biting into his burger.

Hannah swivelled around to face them, "A new what?"

"Jesus." Lip sighed, "Hey, guys, why didn't you call me before you left the hospital?"

Hannah looked over at her youngest brother with creased eyebrows, "I told Carl to while ordered the food."

"No phone." Carl shrugged, making Hannah roll her eyes at the fact he didn't tell her that, "Fiona confiscated it when I got busted for stealing Slim Jims from the Koreans."

"Okay." Lip nodded, taking a sip from the coffee Hannah had made for him.

"You got the money?" Carl asked.

"For what?"

"Get Fiona out of jail."

Lip sighed, "No."

"So, we're just gonna leave her there?" Carl frowned.

Hannah placed a kiss on top of his head as she ran a hand over his hair, "We've got no choice, buddy."

Carl leant into his sister's side as he sighed, "Why is the world so fucked up?"

Hannah frowned, "I don't know."

"Everybody's family this fucked up?" The boy wondered.

"Well, not everybody's but a lot of them, yeah." Lip nodded sadly.

"Course, we're that extra-special Gallagher kind of fucked up." Hannah added with a small smirk, making her brothers chuckle.

"So we're gonna go back to the hospital." Lip said, looking over at Hannah, who nodded and grabbed her stuff, "School, tomorrow, okay?" Lip told Carl, "That means Debbie too."

"She's not here." Carl said.

Lip and Hannah froze by the door, "She didn't come home?"

Carl shook his head, "No."

Hannah glanced over at Lip, "Shit."

Her older brother nodded as he dialled Debbie's number, "Hey, don't let Frank out of your sight, all right? We need him to get Liam out of the hospital. Fuck, why isn't she picking up?" He ran a hand through his hair, "Damn it, where the hell is she?"

"She'll be fine." Hannah assured him, "She's probably with Kev and V." She said as the pair left the house.

Carl only shrugged as he turned back to his meal. The door quickly opened again and he felt a kiss on his forehead.

"Love you, Asswipe." Hannah told him, stealing a few fries before she rushed out of the door again.

―

Hannah stretched out her back as she lay along the uncomfortable row of plastic waiting room chairs, her laptop - Elodie's old one - resting on her stomach as her fingers plodded through typing out her essay on George Orwell's 1984.

"You're gonna hurt your neck if you keep looking at your screen from that angle." Lip told her with a smirk, his own study books scattered around him.

"Worth it to get this done." Hannah muttered, "It's due in the afternoon and I was going to work on it last night. Never got the chance. Besides, I'm too tired to even sit up."

Her brother's eyebrows creased in confusion, "You normally start your essays the night they were given to you."

"Got kinda distracted." Hannah shrugged, scowling as she aggressively deleted the sentences she had just typed.

"With what?"

"Looking for Ian."

Lip frowned slightly, moving to bawl up his coat, "Here." He said, gently lifting her head and resting his coat underneath it.

Hannah relaxed her head back, smiling at its now raised position as the elevator opened, "Thanks."

"Hey."

The siblings looked up to see Lip - Ron's roommate - approaching them.

"Hey, man." Lip nodded as Ron took a textbook out of his bag and handed it to him, "Thanks for bringing this stuff."

"Yeah, man, no problem." Ron said, "How's your brother?"

"He's better. Yeah, he's good." Lip nodded.

"They think he can come home tomorrow." Hannah told him from her position with a small smile.

Ron grinned, "Good, man. That's good."

"Yeah."

"I brought you some ramen too." Ron remembered, reaching into his bag and giving the food to Lip.

"Great."

"I'm out of Cajun chicken, so I brought you smoked ham." Ron shrugged before looking over at Hannah, "If I knew you were here, I would've-"

"Don't worry about it." Hannah waved him off kindly as she went back to her essay.

"Thanks. Really, man." Lip told him.

"Yeah. I should get going. Amanda is double-parked out front and she gets kind of postal if you leave her alone too long." Ron said, starting to back away.

"Right, yeah."

"But Moss handed back our Kant essays. I picked yours up for you and stuck it in there." He gestured to the book Lip had put on the chair.

"Cool. Thank you, man." Lip nodded.

"Yeah."

Hannah glanced over at Lip, watching her brother closely as he waited for the elevator doors to close on Ron before he took a look at his essay. The smile that spread across Lip's face made the girl put her laptop aside as she stood up and joined his side, looking at the essay.

B+
Good work. Keep it up!

Hannah mirrored his smile, her arm wrapping around Lip's shoulder as she looked up at him, studying the proud look on his face.

The boy noticed the deliberating look on her face, "What?"

"I'm not going to let you quit college, Lip."

"But-"

"No." She calmly shook her head, "You've come so far. Okay, you care. We'll work it out. But there's no way I'm going to watch you throw away your education for the rest of us, alright?"

Lip stared at her for a moment, "Okay." He nodded as Hannah leant her head on his shoulder, the pair looking down proudly at his essay, "Okay."

"Can I read it?" Hannah asked, reaching for the paper.

"You know who Kant is?"

"I go to a private school, dude."

"Of course. Sorry, Pippy Longstocking."

"I'll forgive it this time, Jerk-off."

―

Hannah smiled as Sally handed her the stuffed bunny she'd made Liam, "How'd you do this so quickly."

Sally shrugged with a smile, "I'm magic."

"Honesty, I believe that." The redhead chuckled, her hand covering the one Adam had placed on his thigh.

"You okay?" The boy asked, nudging her with his knee.

The girl nodded tiredly, "I'll be better once we're home with Liam." She said, "And when I've changed my clothes."

"We'll all feel better then." Adam smirked, "You stink."

Hannah let out a laugh, ready to respond to his taunt when Debbie approached the group, "Still no Liam?"

Veronica shook her head, "Not yet, honey."

"Where were you last night?" Hannah asked her younger sister.

"Matt's."

V raised an eyebrow, "Who's Matt?"

Debbie gestured to the twenty-year-old behind her, who waved awkwardly at the family.

Hannah's eyebrows shot up as she stared incredulously at her sister, "Really? After everything we talked about?"

"You're Matt? The Matt?" Lip scoffed as he stood up, fists clenched and glaring at the boy, "How fucking old are you?"

"Who's this?" Debbie avoided the question, nodding over at Sammi and Chuck.

"Our new big sister and nephew." Carl told her.

Sammi smiled as she stood up and hugged her youngest sister, "Debbie. Hi."

No more questions could be asked though, as the nurse walked down the hallway, pushing Liam in a stroller.

"Mr. Gallagher?"

"Liam!"

Hannah's face lit up as she jumped out of her chair to greet her little brother, the family all gathering around him.

"Oh, my gosh,"

"I missed you so much."

"You're so strong." Hannah whispered with a smile as Liam happily took the toy from his sister's hand and she placed a loving kiss on his forehead.

Sally and Mark watched the reunion, smiles on their face as Sammi turned to them, "Liam is black?"

ngl, this one was a doozy to write but i'm happy with how it turned out