―

Hannah gripped onto Adam's hand as they walked back into the Gallagher house with the family and Jimmy. 

Fiona glanced down at the middle sibling, "You and Ian okay to get them to bed while I clean up?" She asked softly.

Hannah nodded as her younger siblings went upstairs and Jimmy handed Liam to Ian. She then turned to Adam as the two adults went to the kitchen, "Are you gonna stay the night?"

"Do you want me to?"

The girl nodded, "Please."

"I'll take the mattress again." Adam decided, placing a gentle kiss on the side of her head.

They looked over at the mess of the Thanksgiving dinner.

"I'll clear the table." Veronica said, she and Kevin moving to do so and the rest of the kids went upstairs.

―

It had been a few hours and it was still dark out when Hannah slowly reopened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was Debbie not being next to her. Quietly getting out of the bed and avoiding stepping on Adam, who was asleep on the mattress on the floor, she tiptoed out into the hallway, seeing Ian looking into Fiona's room. The girl joined her brother's side, her frown deepening when she saw Debbie sobbing into Fiona's side and Carl snuggled on the other side of her, looking numb.

Hannah and Ian glanced at each other and then at Jimmy, who could only send them a frown. Fiona looked up at the two older redheads, sending them a nod, letting them know that she had their siblings. The two nodded, hugging each other goodnight before going back into their own rooms.

As she closed her bedroom door behind her, she could hear Adam shuffle around on the mattress, "You okay?" The boy asked.

Hannah sniffed, turning to him and nodding, "Uh, Debbie and Carl are gonna sleep in Fiona's bed with her and JimmySteve."

"Oh, okay."

"Will, uh," Hannah nervously pulled the sleeves of her shirt over her hands, "Will you lay with me?"

Adam sent her a small smile, "Of course."

Hannah smiled lightly back at him, taking his hand and leading her into the bed, sinking into the boy's arms, "Thanks for not letting me beat Karen up. As much as I wanted to. And still want to."

"Yeah, well I don't need you in jail for beating up a girl who's recently given birth," Adam shrugged, "I kinda want you around."

Hannah chuckled, "I kinda want you around, too."

"I'm not going anywhere."

―

The next morning, the sun was seeping through the curtains, making Hannah blink herself awake and rub the sleep out of her eyes. Glancing up, she saw that she had woken up before Adam, her head still resting on his chest. The girl smiled as her eyes studied his tranquil, sleeping face.

"Are you watching me sleep?" Adam mumbled, a smile creeping onto his face.

"Shut up," Hannah rolled her eyes as she sat up, glad he hadn't opened his eyes yet so that he couldn't see her blush, "I was just looking at how ugly you are."

Adam cracked open an eye, looking up at her, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"How ugly would you say, exactly?"

"So much that my eyes are bleeding." Hannah chuckled as Adam threw a pillow at her.

"How're you feeling?" Adam wondered, propping his head up on his hands.

"As fine as I can," Hannah shrugged, throwing on Adam's jumper from the night before, "I'm gonna grab some coffee. You want some?"

"Please."

Hannah smiled, before leaving the bedroom and heading down the kitchen stairs, pausing when she saw her best friend sat at the dinner table.

Seeing the redhead, Elodie stood up and embraced her, "Adam texted me last night. How're you doing?"

Hannah ran a hand over her face as Carl came down the stairs, "I don't even know."

"Hey, Carl." Veronica greeted the boy.

"You sleep okay?" Fiona asked him.

Carl gave his eldest sister a look as Hannah pulled him into a side hug, "What do you think?"

"You hungry?" Fiona asked, "Let me make you a sandwich."

Carl nodded, "Okay."

Fiona looked over at Hannah and Elodie, "You two want anything?"

Hannah and Elodie shook their heads, the former saying, "Just gonna grab some coffee."

Elodie eyed her best friend as they all heard Frank trek through the house, "Is that my brother's sweater."

Hannah blushed, punching her arm, "Shut up."

"Disability check doesn't come for another week." Fiona told Frank with a sigh as the man entered the kitchen.

"Went to visit your mother in the hospital," Frank said, "We have to get her out of there."

"Best place for her." Fiona sighed.

"She's fragile."

"She's broken." Fiona corrected her father.

"They wanna make her normal."

"They wanna help her."

"By which they mean average, boring, medicated," Frank listed off as he grabbed something from the fridge, "A Stepford Monica."

"She tried to kill herself last night," Fiona rolled her eyes as Hannah began to pour three cups of coffee, "Boring would be a blessing."

"They perform lobotomies now." Frank said.

Hannah scoffed, "No, they don't."

"Shock treatment."

"No."

"I think they do. Princess Leia did it." Veronica spoke up, making Hannah hit the woman's arm with the back of her hand.

"One hundred thousand volts of electricity zapped into her skull," Frank continued, "Draws so much power, it takes out entire city blocks. When our lights dim, some poor fucker's getting his brains fried." He told Carl.

"I'm not listening to this," Hannah rolled her eyes, giving Elodie her coffee and picking up the other two cups before they made their way upstairs, she turned to Carl, adding, "And don't listen to whatever this prick says, okay. He's an idiot."

―

Hannah let out a sigh as she walked into the kitchen to Fiona, Jimmy, Carl and Debbie talking.

"So where are we meeting?" Fiona asked.

"Morton's, downtown." Jimmy answered.

"Ooh, who're we meeting downtown?" Hannah asked.

"Jimmy's parents." Fiona told her.

"Dad has a wine locker there. Little brass plaque with his name on it." Jimmy said.

"Everybody invited?" Carl asked as Fiona wiped his hands clean of whatever food was on it.

"Yep," Steve nodded, "Dad's buying, so order the most expensive thing," He then turned to Hannah, "And invite the twins."

"Uh, Sally, Mark and Ellie are out this weekend for Mark's conference, but Adam'll be here, so I'll invite him." Hannah nodded.

Carl raised an eyebrow, "Prime rib?"

"Sure." Jimmy nodded.

"Bone-in porterhouse steak?"

"Anything you want," Carl smiled, "What do you say, Debs, free meal?"

"No can do, Jim. Busy." Debbie shook her head as she started to go upstairs.

Fiona raised an eyebrow, "Doing what?"

"Sleeping over at Holly Herkimier's." Debbie told her.

"Don't do anything she does." Fiona called after her.

"Big-ass lobster?" Carl asked Steve, making Hannah gasp.

"Oh, I could go for some lob."

"Oh. You bet." Jimmy smirked, high-fiving Hannah.

―

Adam leaned over from where he was sitting at their table in the restaurant, "You look lovely."

Hannah blushed, "Thanks. I'm just lucky that pretty much all of Ellie's clothes fit me."

"Fiona, Hannah, look. Hey. Rawr." Carl called out to them, playing with a lobster.

Candace - Jimmy's mom - chuckled, "Boys."

"Sorry, we don't let him out of his cage very often," Fiona laughed, beckoning her little brother over, "Carl. Get over here."

"So, Jim, what have you been up to?" Jimmy's brother, Chip, asked as Carl re-joined them at the table, "Finding new and creative ways to underachieve?"

"Traveling around South America til recently." Jimmy shrugged.

"Yeah, he handled a lot of assets." Hannah shrugged, she and Jimmy sharing a smirk across the table.

"Are you still handling all the haemorrhoidectomies for Dad?" Jimmy asked his brother, before saying to Adam and the Gallaghers, "Chip joined Dad's practice after his surgical residency. Following in the great man's footsteps."

"So you get to cut into people?" Carl asked with a grin, "Awesome."

"He take you skiing yet?" Chip asked Fiona.

"Uh, no," Fiona shook her head, "My only talent involving snow is knowing how to shovel the walk without disturbing my father sleeping on it."

"And Carl's pretty good at peeing in it as well." Ian added, making his siblings laugh.

"What was the name of that girl that he took to St. Moritz on New Year's?" Chip asked his partner, "Chrissie? Lizzie? Something with an I-E."

"I was 17." Jimmy said.

Fiona raised an eyebrow, "Took a girl to Europe in high school?"

"Dad offered a ticket." Jimmy shrugged.

"He drags her all the way to the Alps then leaves her in the hotel room, sitting there for some French girl he met on the gondola." Chip told them.

"Chip, leave your brother alone." His mother said.

"Two things you can count on:" Chip said, bitterness in both his tone and smile, "Mom's favoritism for her youngest."

"Not true." Candace sighed.

"My brother thinks of me as the runt that didn't punch back." Jimmy said.

"And her youngest's quick and stealthy exit ten after he weasels her out of another ten grand." Chip added.

"I was hoping to milk her for another twenty this time." Jimmy smiled dryly at his brother, making Hannah laugh and almost choke on the water she was drinking.

Fiona let out a small hum, before saying, "With a name like Chip, you'd think you'd wanna defy the stereotype."

"Fiona, don't. It's fine."

"No, it's not." Fiona told her boyfriend.

"Well, sorry to be late," Jimmy's father - Ned - said, joining the table, "Whipple on a stage-four patient. So you are the mysterious Fiona."

"And these are Fiona's siblings," Candace said, "Carl and Ian. As well as Hannah and her boyfriend."

This time, Hannah really did choke on her water, as did the boy sitting next to her, yet no one commented as Ned smiled at the male redhead.

"Well, nice to meet you, Ian," He said, before turning to the rest of the table, "Have we ordered?"

"Excuse me. Bathroom." Ian said, walking away.

"And your drink, sir." A waiter said, giving Ned his drink.

"Thank you," The man smiled, "Ah, you know, I gotta wash my hands. I'll have the iceberg-lettuce salad and the sea bass, okay?" He told the waiter, before standing up and leaving the table.

Carl cleared his throat, looking the waiter dead in the eyes, "Double-cut 48-ounce prime rib, medium rare. And the 2-pound Maine lobster, please. And the same for my sister." He said, nodding over at Hannah, who leaned her arm against the back of her chair, giving the waiter a thumbs up.

―

"Thanks for letting me stay over." Hannah smiled as she and Adam walked into the boy's room.

"Yeah, well I don't like being in the house alone," Adam shrugged, "And besides, I thought you could use the change of scenery."

"Well, you're not wrong." Hannah chuckled, taking off the coat she'd borrowed from Elodie and neatly draping it over Adam's desk chair.

Adam smiled, before he attempted to undo his tie, letting out a string of curse words as he continued to fail at doing so. Seeing this, Hannah chuckled.

"You really can't do anything." She smiled, walking over to him.

"I know, you don't need to remind me." Adam laughed as Hannah kicked off the heels she was wearing.

"Yeah, but it's fun." Hannah shrugged, reaching out to help him untie the material around his neck.

Adam swallowed thickly as he watched her focus on the tie, "You really do look lovely."

Hannah flushed red as she finished undoing his tie, "Stop."

"No," Adam shook his head, "Not until you believe me."

Hannah smiled softly up at the boy, who smiled back down at her. Slowly, the redhead rose to her tiptoes, taking Adam's face in her hands and placing a soft kiss on his lips. Pulling away, Adam lightly rested his hands on Hannah's hips before they kissed again, deeply. The pair slowly backed towards the bed, Adam's knees hitting the headboard and they both fell onto the bed.

Hannah looked down at the boy, "You sure?" She asked, one of her hands ghosting over the buttons of his shirt.

Adam nodded, running his tongue over his bottom lip as he rested his hand on the zip at the back of the dress she was wearing, "With you, always."