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Ch. 16

He's eternally angry. Suppressed and cold, but burning underneath. He covered his true self so well he doesn't know his actions are a second skin covering his heart which beats on his shoulder. He was born into pain and distress and forced to thrive or die, just like the rest of his siblings. I hope he's found the love to change him.

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How did life get so fucked up?
When did my hands become an overfull cup?
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Everyone was still fussing about Ian, no one noticed me shove my paper back in the envelope. I couldn't focus on that right now.

"You did PCP? With out me?! You promised we would do that together!"

"None of that matters Frank. What's done is done. That was over 15 years ago. Bottom line, Liam is yours. And they can't fucking have him," I said.

"Oh we're taking him. If Moni signs that settlement were taking Liam."

"No. You're not." Fiona said.

"Fiona, please. I just want to do what's right! I'm his mother, he needs me!"

"No, we all needed you. We needed you to have your shit together! We needed you to be there for us! You never were! You wanna do the right thing? Then you'll pack up, take your girlfriend, get the hell out of our house. And never come back." She stood from the table and so did the rest of us. We watched her face disappear into despair. And we left.
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We sat in Steve's house for a while, trying our best to figure out what was happening at home.

"They're fighting," Carl.

"Can't we call the cops? It's kidnapping," Debbie.

"The cops can't do anything she's his mother," Fiona.

"I think they're going outside," I said.

We all stood hurriedly and shuffled out the front door, lining up on the sidewalk. Roberta was putting their bags in the car and Monica walked out behind her, holding a bundled up Liam.

She had huge tears in her eyes as she looked at all of us. Lip and Ian were standing on either side of me, I grabbed their hands. Slowly she started walking toward us and I looked to Fiona. She looked hardened. Until Monica got right up to her and slowly handed her Liam. She looked confused, sad, and defeated but glad to have Liam. We all let out a collective breath of shock and relief.

With falling tears how Monica turned to leave, glancing back every now and then.

"Mom!" Fiona said, catching her attention. When she looked back Fiona nodded hard, tearfully and gratefully, at her. Monica burst into tears and Roberta herded her into the truck. As they left you could hear her crying through the window she was pressed against.

I tuned hard to the side and threw my arms around Lip, then Ian holding onto both of them for a good minute. Then we all rushed in out of the cold.
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We all sat on the couch talking, happy to have Liam, for Fiona to be back in the house, for Monica to be finally gone.

"Hey, you never said anything about your results," Ian said.

"Yeah, what'd you find out?" Lip asked. Everyone was lookin at me now, I was suddenly shy. I grabbed the papers out of my back pocket and handed them to Lip. He was silent for a minute.

"Holy shit."

"What?" Debbie asked.

"Her dad was... her dad."