Blue eyes and Cigerettes // Lip Gallagher [Completed]

20

"Jesus Christ Dad" Charlie whispered as she dabbed at the blood dripping down her fathers face. He was sitting on a wooden chair next to sink and she had a pile of bloody tissue on the table next to her. "I can do this myself, make sure the boys feel at home" he said while taking a breath, about to get up but she pushed him back down. "No" she said sternly, he tried to stare her down but it would never work so nodded, admitting defeat. "Jesus Private, always looking after other people, I have no idea who taught you that in life but I'm glad they did. Beautiful trait to have" he said as she smiled and told him to wait a couple of seconds because the boys were laughing at something in the living room.

"Brooklyn" Mickey said through a nod before averting his attention back to whatever Lip and Ian were doing. "What are you fuckers doing now ?" she asked unamused as the Gallagher brothers turned around. "Honestly, we can't decide what's cuter" Lip said whole taking a picture off the mantelpiece. "Charlie at the circus dressed as a baby clown eating candy floss" he said, presenting the frame to her as Ian shook his head and grabbed another picture. "Or something that shocked me, six year old Charlie in the Joffrey school of ballet" he added, presenting the picture of her in a tutu that she couldn't help but cringe at. "Circus Charlie" Chase said proudly from the doorway which caused her to spin on her heels. "What did I say ?" she said sternly, it was as if she was the parent because he repeated her words to stay in the kitchen until she came back. "But nobody knew about the ballet" Ian said as Chase nodded sadly. "I was able to be in her life and take her to the circus, ballet was Linds' thing, she always wanted a daughter so she could live her ballerina dream vicariously through her and she did" he said bitterly as they all broke into small talk.

It had quickly gotten to nine pm and they were all watching old home movies before Chase went to his own training session since it was clear after the days events Ian wasn't going to ROTC. Charlie was an observer so she noticed Mickey refusing to touch Ian around them so she tapped Lip on the shoulder, the pair grabbed a beer and sat on the steps of the backyard porch, something they hadn't done since they were children.

It was a comfortable silence filled with the sounds of them glugging their beers until Charlie spoke. "Have you uh, spoken to Karen since she tried to fuck my dad ?" she joked as he broke into an uncomfortable laugh and shook his head. "She treats you like shit Lip, it's disgusting" she said bitterly as he kept nodding. "I know she does, that's the thing" he said as she raised an eyebrow and he knew damn well at that moment he had to finish the story. "Let's hust day, a lot happened in the nine months I didn't see you" he said honestly as she nodded and all of a sudden found herself just sitting there ready to hear it. "Tell me" she said softly, their pinky fingers were touching and they slowly interlocked as he nodded again.

"Karen was pregnant. I was fully convinced the baby was mine and it wasn't, it was uh asian" he said as she shook her head before putting her hand on his knee. "Which yanno. Fucking sucks. But whatever. It's like I'm. I don't know" he began as she whispered the word addicted and he nodded. "Drives me fucking crazy because I want you Charlie, you know that but I fucked it up because I went back to her and you just see me which all these girls and the nickname Lipstick" ohe began as quickly stopped talking because she pressed a kiss on his lips.

"Alright, I can't say I blame you, you wanted to a present dad, still, it's heavy shit" she said as he found himself smiling. "You've always understood me" he said softly while resting his head on her shoulder and she left it there for a couple of seconds. "You were never hard to understand" she whispered into the top of his head. "You're actually going to laugh at this" he said as she looked at him as if to say "tell me". Lip was good at knowing what you wanted just by your facial expression so continued talking. "I uh dated Mandy but she was like my wife it was batshit crazy. She plagiarised famous speeches and tried to pass them as mine so I'd get into college" he said while laughing as she looked at him. "You're going to college then ?" she asked through a smile as he nodded. "Good. I'm happy. You deserve to get out and show the world what you've got to offer, PhillipZ I mean, you'd sell books, you've got a sob story life" she said through a laugh as he laughed with her. "Hey uh, can I ask you something ?" he asked while putting his hand on hers but they were interrupted by Mickey coming out.

"There's a shit on the doorstep" Mickey said through a  burp as she nodded. "Why are you telling me ? Pick it up and throw it away" she said confused as he shook his head. "No like a kid. There's a kid on the doorstep" he said as she stood up. "Rosella" she whispered while standing up as Lip grabbed her wrist. "Who now ?" he said clearly confused as Charlie explained that the neighbors fought a lot and so the the middle child Spencer always brought the 2 year old over. She walked into the living room where Spencer was sitting holding the baby.

"Thanks Char, I owe you big this time" he said relived as she sighed and shook her head. "Never, you stay too, you look exhausted" she said honestly while taking the crying toddler from him who immediately settled down when in her arms. "Nah, your hands seem to be full" he said as she shook her head. "I mean it Spence, you look like you haven't slept in days" as he nodded before she took the toddler into the kitchen to see Lip.

"Cadences siblings" she whispered as Lips jaw dropped. "Is he coming too ?" he said getting slightly jealous as she shook her head. "Spencer's 16. He takes Rosella here. Finds somewhere to sleep. Cadence sleeps on the streets. I should probably see if he's okay" she said while biting her bottom lip clearly concerned. "So about what I wanted to ask you" he began as she shook her head. "Can it wait ?  I need to get Ian and Mick a bed. Get Spencer set up on the couch and put this sleeping beauty to bed" she said as he nodded as she handed him the baby before going to do what she said she would.

"What am I supposed to do with you ?" he said while looking at the child in his arms who was now wide awake, taking in her surrounding and looking at Lip with nothing but curiosity since he was a stranger. He stood with her in the kitchen for about twenty minutes until Spencer walked in.

"You dating Charlie" he asked while leaning against the kitchen counter as Lip shrugged. "Complicated" he said honestly as Spencer sighed. "I get that, your brother and his boyfriend left, I can't find Charlie"
"Is your brother coming ?" he asked as Spencer shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know, it depends how high he gets" he said as Lip raised his eyebrow. "Charlie was way too good for him. I mean, we all saw that. He saw her as one thing" he said as Lip just softly laughed. "Try telling her that" he said as Spencer nodded. "Trust me. I have. She's just too nice and sees the best in people especially in that Hayden guy." he said as Lip nodded. "If Cadence does turn up. Just tell him to fuck off. It really isn't even funny how many times I've told him to not come over here looking for Charlie" he said as Lip thanked him, told him goodnight and went upstairs to find Charlie.

He hadn't been in the Cavanaugh house in years so it was unfamiliar to him, he wandered into a room with pale pink walls and there lying on the bed was a peacefully sleeping Charlie. He walked over and set the already sleeping Rosella next to her and once he knew she was safe took his seat on the floor so he was at perfect level with Charlie's face.

"Beautiful, too beautiful" he whispered, knowing she couldn't hear him. "You give me a run for my money in absolutely everything I do and I say I hate it but I'm not going to lie, I love it. I fucking love it. I fucking love that you can take the piss out of me but still understand and love me at such a deep level" he continued while stroking her face as he paused for a second. "I worry about you Bubs, too much. I worry that you won't put your brains to use and do something fucking amazing with your life. You don't deserve to be stuck here, you're a princess. Definitely. But this isn't your kingdom. I worry that you'll choose someone that truly doesn't know your worth and  it scares me. People like Iggy and Hayden don't deserve you because  they want one thing. I wonder what college you'd go too" he began as her eyes slowly opened and infront of his face was the girl he had been talking to.

Her face was still damaged but she didn't look any less mesmerising than always. Her bright red hair was tied in a messy bun on her head, her gold nose hoop was slightly sticking out but Lip didn't care and her blue eyes glistened. "Chicago polytechnic" she said as he smiled. "How much did you hear ?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, he was panicked but she shrugged. "Just the end" she said as he nodded before standing up and telling her to push over so she was in the middle of him and Rosella before they all slowly fell asleep. It was a lie, she heard it all.