Mine // Carl Gallagher

Chapter 11

       Carl, Debbie, and Sophia were sitting on the couch in the living room watching the TV. Sophia was zoned out just thinking about everything. Everything had gone well so far, but what if Fiona didn't approve? She had no idea what Fiona was like and she was the one who made the ultimate decision since she was pretty much in charge of the family. Just in time, the front door opened and a tall brunette walked through the door. She stopped when she saw Sophia on the couch and shut the door, "Um... hi. Carl, who's this?" He and Sophia stood up, "Fiona, this is my friend Sophia. Sophia, this is Fiona." Sophia awkwardly gave Fiona a small wave and Fiona returned a friendly smile. She seemed like a nice lady, so Sophia wasn't very worried anymore. Fiona set her purse down on the table, "Oh, it's nice to meet you. Are you guys just hanging out?" Carl did the talking, "Well, yeah. I don't exactly know how to say this cause it's really out of no where... but can she please live with us?"
       Fiona's mouth dropped as she was just about to say something but Carl interrupted, "No, wait, just hear me out. Sophia has been living in a really bad and dangerous situation. Her parents abuse her and are drunk and high all the time and they're broke and don't take care of her. She's had it really rough and trust me, she can't keep living with them. It's really unstable. Please, Fiona. She's really nice, she won't cause any problems. She can sleep with me since I know we don't have any other space. I know it's a lot but she has no other option, other than being homeless." Fiona sighed and face palmed, she was thinking deeply about what to do. She felt really bad for Sophia because she understood her situation. Fiona, being the kindest person in the world, dropped her arms to her sides, "Yeah. Okay, sure. Welcome to the Gallagher family, Sophia." Sophia was going to say something but Fiona went straight to the kitchen and gulped down a beer. Sophia and Carl couldn't stop smiling at each other. He said, "Well, it's settled. Welcome home." Sophia couldn't help but lean in and give him a big hug and whispered, "Thank you, thank you, thank you..." He didn't know who to do at first because he wasn't the most affectionate person in the world, but after a few seconds he hugged her back. Sophia felt the safest she's ever been.
       Sophia and Carl were upstairs chilling in his room. She was reading a random book she grabbed from her house and he was scrolling through porn pictures on his phone. The smell of warm food filled her nose, making her extremely excited to finally have a normal meal. She hadn't had an actual meal in two weeks. Fiona yelled from downstairs, "Dinner is ready you guys! Come on down!" Carl put down his phone and Sophia put down her book. He started walking out of the room expecting her to follow, but she was frozen. He turned around and said, "Hey, you okay?" She snapped out of her blank state of mind and said, "Oh, um yeah." He gave her a small smile and they walked downstairs to the kitchen for dinner.
      Everyone sat down at the dining table and there was all sorts of food. Debbie asked, "Why'd you make so much food, Fiona? You never do this!" Fiona smiled and responded as she sat down in her chair, "Well, tonight is a special night because Sophia is here. I thought it would be a nice way to celebrate and welcome our newest family member." Sophia turned slightly red because she was a little embarrassed, but she felt very warm and welcome. She gave everyone a small smile and Fiona said, "Well, dig in you guys." There was chicken, salad, fruit, corn, and biscuits. Everyone grabbed food immediately so that there was barely anything left. They all had their own conversations going on with each other and Sophia just sat there quietly. She was happy to finally be apart of a real family, but she knew it would take a while for her to get comfortable. Carl was talking with Lip when he looked next to him and noticed Sophia was staying quiet and wasn't talking to anyone. He could tell she was really nervous and he felt a little bad for her. She was staring down at her plate and playing with her food. He leaned over and nudged her with his arm, "You okay?" She looked up at him and gave him a smile to reassure him, but she felt a bit out of place. He decided to spark a conversation with her so that she wasn't left out, "So, tell me about where you're from. I know you just moved here." She turned to face him and said, "Well, I'm from Springfield so it's only 3 hours away. My dad just came up to us a few weeks ago and said we were going to Chicago. He said it was for 'work' so I figured we had to move here because of his drug-dealing. My mom didn't feel like moving so they got in a huge fight that lasted days, but then she finally agreed to move when he threatened to divorce her and leave us with no money. So yeah, we moved here a couple days ago and now here we are."
      Carl felt a little guilty because he knew something she didn't. He was quiet for a solid minute but then he said, "Well in that case, I should probably tell you something. Not here though." Sophia wondered what he would tell her. She nodded and they continued eating until everyone was finished. Fiona and Lip cleared the table while everyone else returned to what they were doing before. Carl signaled for Sophia to follow him up to his bedroom, then she followed him up to his spot on the roof where they watched the stars. They sat down on the blankets and she asked, "What were you going to tell me?" He didn't seem nervous, just unsure. Carl finally spoke, "Well, your dad has been working for me for 2 years. Even when you guys were in Springfield and I was here in Chicago, he worked for me. He always carried out shipments and deals. He's always been one of my most loyal and hard working men. So you guys had to move here to Chicago because of me. He wasn't the best worker, but he was really commited so I told him he needed to move closer to me so things could get done faster. Byron is always willing to do anything for me since I'm the boss and knew I would kick his ass, so he agreed and said he would move to Chicago immediately. I just thought you should know. He and I have worked together for a while. Knowing the type of guy he is, it's smart that you finally got away from them. He's always been a pretty angry guy, he's always been so mad at the world."
        Sophia couldn't find any words to speak. She didn't know what to say, she didn't expect Carl to have really known her dad like that. It really was a coincidence that she became friends and moved in with her dad's boss. She wasn't angry at Carl at all, she was actually pretty happy that he was honest enough to tell her that. She looked over at him, he was scared of what she would say, and said, "Thank you, for telling me all that. So... are you still going to have him work for you? Do you guys see each other often?"
"Yeah, I think I'm gonna keep having him work for me. He's not my favorite person in the world anymore knowing how horrible he was to you, but if I suddenly fire him things will get bad. I'm not scared of him or anything, but I'm a reasonable guy and he clearly needs the money. He does a good job most of the time so I'll just leave him be. And no, we actually rarely see each other. When he came over here to tell me he fucked up and lost the drugs this morning, that was actually the first time I had physically seen him in months. We really only meet up maybe two or three times a year. Other than that, we only communicate through either phone calls or through my other men."
      Sophia nodded, satisfied with his answer, "Okay, sorry for all the questions but I have just one more: so are you like a huge macho drug lord and gang leader? I don't really know what you exactly do. Should I be afraid of you or...?" He smirked, "That's exactly what I am. I'm a gang leader, everyone around here calls me the King of South Side. I'm the most important guy in this hood. What I do isn't always just to rebel and do illegal shit for fun, everything I do is for the money and in the end, I always get what I want. My men and I commit robberies and sell drugs. I'm always in charge, I'm the big boss that everyone is afraid of. Nobody ever wants to cross me. But, in your case, you don't need to be afraid of me. It might be hard to believe but underneath all my badass-ness, I'm a good guy. I'll protect and take care of you. Besides, I'd never lay a hand on a girl in a million years."
       Now Sophia wasn't afraid of Carl necessarily, but she was afraid of what he did. Now that she lived with him, wasn't she at risk of being hunted down by his enemies? She ignored that possibility, though, and trusted him when he said he'd protect and take care of her. That's what she really needed. Sophia smiled and said, "I believe you." She couldn't think of what else to say, so that was all. She laid on her back and looked up at the stars, soon falling asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A/N: This was a pretty important chapter for the story, so I hope you guys enjoyed it!! Thank you for reading :)
What do you think will happen with Carl and Sophia's relationship? Do you think they'll become more brother&sister or do you think they'll fall in love?