Shameless

132| The Fickle Lady is Calling it Quits

Carla sat down at the round dining table,silently drinking some coffee while listening to Emma and Mateo's cartoons play in the background. Never in a million years did Carla think she would ever have kids of her own,let alone twins. She never thought she would be a police officer or have a great boyfriend and their own home.

She always thought she would be a lowlife who would spend her life working at Captain Bob's ..or ending up selling drugs on the street corner.

She stood up,kissing Emma and Mateo goodbye. "Tell daddy,mommy left a bit early,okay? Mommy loves you both." Carla blew them a kiss before leaving the house.

~~

"Gallagher." Stamps said as soon as Carla walked into the police station. "Sargent stamps." Carla said,adjusting her vest. "Need you to apologize to Mr. McManus,Carla." Stamps said.

"That the guy with the Merce-Benz?" Carla heard Tipping ask from behind her. "He's filing a brutality claim against you." Stamps said.

"Me? What? Why?" Carla asked,her body visibly tensing up. "I'm gonna go with door number two—slamming the guy against his car." Tipping said.

"This can all go away. Say a few words, 'I'm sorry,' blah,blah,blah." Stamps said. "Seriously?" Carla and Carl said together.

"Most likely he'll drop the claim. It'll save the department 50k." Stamps said. "So what? Every time someone complains,we just apologize and it goes away?" Carla crossed her arms.

"If the person's rich a-hole with an attorney." Tipping said. Carla resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Stamps chuckled. "Ready?"

Carla let out a frustrated exhale through her nose as she followed stamps. "You got this." Tipping said.

Carla walked up to Mr. McManus. "Mr. McManus, officer Gallagher has something to say to you." Stamps said as Carla silently scoffed when she saw Mr. McManus wearing a neck brace.

"Excuse me if I don't,uh,do a jig. I got two dislocated discs in my neck,thanks to you." Mr. McManus said.

Carla sighed as she put on a professional facade. "I'm very sorry about that,sir. I was out of line,and it won't happen again."

Stamps looked at Carla before looking at Mr. Manus. "Well,I hope we can all put this behind us. Officer Gallagher,you may go back to work now."

"Thank you, Ma'am." Carla started walking away. "That's it? You're gonna let her get off that easily?" Mr. Manus asked. "Gallagher,hold up." Stamps said.

Carla rolled her eyes as she turned around. She stood next to stamps. "I'm a victim here." Mr. Manus said. "Yes. Yes you are,sir." Carla said,clearly annoyed with all this.

"I was simply double-parked in front of my building and you slammed my body up against my car." Mr. Manus said. "I'm sorry about that." Carla said.

Mr. Manus sighed. "Well,now I know how every black person in America feels." He said,glancing at Stamps.

Now,Carla was fed up with his bullshit. "Did you actually just say that?" She asked. "Say what?" McManus asked. "That you,a privileged piece of shit who evicts people from their apartments can relate to how Black people feel,who are literally murdered at the hands of the police department?" Carla asked.

McManus put his hands on his hips. "Well,yes,as a matter of fact,I do relate to them." McManus said,still looking at stamps. "No,stop. I was fine apologizing to your entitled ass to make this all go away,but I can't play this game anymore. I spent the last few months trying to figure out what kind of cop I wanna be,and I'll say this Sargent Stamps: I haven't met a lot of good role models here." Carla said,obviously she wasn't talking about Aurora.