The Secret Between Us//Gallavich

21| Should we move?

FIONA
When you discover that Terry Milkovich isn't dead, but he's paralysed, what do you do? You don't buy an excessive amount of weapons and protection. You don't go on the run for a while until he loses interest. No. You take your family out for a day to keep moral up.

Growing up in the Gallagher house, any and all money either went to the bills or food. I never had the luxury of buying an expensive pair of heels. I never got to go shopping and just hang out with friends. Instead, I was helping my younger siblings get homework done while I got dinner sorted.

But, ever since I had the chance, I had a stack of cash sitting in the deepest part of my closet, saved for a rainy day. Today wasn't rainy, just gloomy.

With Terry in the hospital, unfortunately not dead, just paralysed, moral had been low. Everyone was afraid of leaving the house, considering Terry had people who would stop at nothing to keep him happy.

At 7 am, I opened every bedroom door before standing in the middle of the hallway.

"All Gallaghers and Milkovich kids up and downstairs in 30 minutes. Wear something warm!" I yelled, hearing groans coming from every bedroom.

As expected, all kids living in the house were walking downstairs in warm clothes, some of them yawning and some of them trying to keep their eyes open.

"Why the fuck are we up at 7:30 am? It's Saturday..." Carl rolled his eyes.

"We're going to the zoo!" I smiled as I dropped a pillowcase full of cash onto the bench.

———
(8 Hours Later)

I don't think I had ever seen my siblings so happy. Debbie loved seeing the beautiful birds. Lip took care of Liam, making sure he didn't run off. Carl was interested in the animals that were deadly. As for Mickey, Mandy and Ian, they stayed behind, often moving from one exhibit to another after 15 minutes.

Before long, we were on the L train back home. I smiled at the sight of Ian's head resting on Mickey's shoulder.

Getting back to the Gallagher household, everyone stopped when we noticed that the front door was wide open.

"The fuck? I remember locking this..." Lip questioned as he walked up the steps, Mickey following behind him while the rest of us stayed behind.

Lip and Mickey entered the house first, giving us the all clear to head inside.

"Holy fuck..." Carl gasped as we all walked into the house, everything all over the place.

Pillows were strewn around the floor, the couch was actually flipped and so was the armchair. The house was a fuckin' mess. Nothing was in it's original location.

"B&E?" Lip questioned as Mickey helped him put the couch back.

"Yep. Terry." Mandy sighed.

"How is Terry responsible for this? He's in the hospital and can't even lift a finger." Debbie scoffed.

"Terry has a few criminal friends-" Mickey started.

"Not surprised." Ian chuckled.

"-and they're in constant contact. The moment he stops responding to messages or stops answering calls, they realise that something's wrong. They find him in the hospital, he tells them how he ended up there, they come after us. My best bet is they came here, found nothing and are waiting for the next good time to strike." Mickey warned us.

"So? What are we waiting for? There's like 50 gun shops in Chicago. We go there, stock up and get ready to obliterate any and all of Terry's friends." Carl smirked.

"It ain't that easy Sergeant Slaughter. My suggestion: Pack up and move." Mandy rolled her eyes.

"You really think that's the best idea?" I was actually concerned.

"We ain't movin'!" Carl hissed.

"Hell yeah! You can't let hate win." Debbie backed Carl up.

"Wake up, Little Mary Sunshine. Hate always wins. Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King." Mandy rolled her eyes.

"Pretty sure one was crucified and the other two were shot." Carl sighed.

"Jesus! You two wanna help, maybe?" Debbie hissed at Ian and Mickey, who just stayed out of the conversation.

"Yes, I wanna help. I wanna help by shoving the gun down my dad's throat and watching his spinal cord burst out his fuckin' back all over his kitchen wall!" Mickey grabbed a nearby glass and smashed it against the floor.

"So, what, you're just gonna let Terry and his Nazis win? Watch Paris burn? Let the Berlin Wall stand? Saigon fall? Huh? Is that who we are?" Debbie stood near Carl and watched as Frank walked through the back door. Liam just stood near the stairs, confused.

"Yes!" Mickey rolled his eyes again.

"No! We're Gallaghers! If you're gonna be a part of this family, you better nut up. We're gonna white-trash this shit." Debbie groaned.

"Debbie, think about who you're talking about. Terry is a psychopath. You mess with him, you're dead. I agree with Mickey. Moving doesn't seem like such a bad idea, considering how we just found the house." Lip shrugged his shoulders.

"Why is the house a mess? Ian go crazy again?" Frank laughed.

"Fuck off, Frank." I rolled my eyes.

"Nope. Worse; Terry. Some of his Nazi friends came and happily committed B&E just to find and kill all of us." Ian scoffed.

"Shit." Frank gasped.

"We're not moving, Fiona!" Carl groaned.

"Yeah. I agree with Carl, and so does Liam." Debbie smiled.

"Last time I checked, neither of you are adults. Lip, Mickey, Mandy, Ian and I are, so we're deciding, and I know we all think it's a good idea to move." I argued, watching as Frank looked at us in confusion.

"I'm not exactly sure what we're arguing about, but as your father and head of this family, I agree with Debbie, Carl and Liam." Frank tried to figure out what he was agreeing with.

"Jesus Christ, Frank! You have no idea what the fuck we're talking about so go and do what you're best at...getting drunk. Leave the adult topic to the actual adults." I rolled my eyes.