another gallagher

chapter 15

as im on my home i get a call from lip "hey Iz, come to the alibi" "why is everything ok" i ask him concerned "yeah we gotta talk to frank" he tells me "ok im like 10 minutes away" i tell him "ok, bye" he says "bye" 

when i get to the alibi i see lip, ian, fiona, carl, and debbie standing outside. "hey your here ok come one lets go in" fiona says to me, and we walk into the alibi to see our dad sitting on his favorite stool. "thought you'd wanna know Carl's alright. they reset his arm" fiona tells him and i only now notice the black cast around my brothers arm "yeah so please stay on your barstool and keep drinking" lip says "hey lets just do what we came here to do" fiona tells him "if you're looking for money, i dont have any yet. your mom still hasnt signed my settlement papers. i dont know where shes been all day" frank says to us "shes been getting liams DNA results" i tell him "yeah congrats youre still the father" ian says to frank "are you serious? ooh i thought that was a rumor, about nana gallagher having an affair with that sax player" frank says to us "promise you won't sign anything forfeiting parental rights" i tell him "oh come on you guys, you know monica is a bad mother, im letting her pretend she can have him so i can get my settlement" "what is she doesnt give up that easy?" fiona asks him "no no no this is a win-win situation. even if she takes him for a little while. she'll be back crying about her low self-esteem or how boys actually need their fathers or penis grief. Thats when you wake up and look at the person next to you and say: somebody help me i just fucked a lady" frank says "ive never asked you for anything. ever" fiona tells him "oh come on. will you please give me some time with this. i can do this, i just--- dont pressure me. ok?" frank tells us "ive gotta walk away" lip says "what?" i ask him "if i dont walk away imma fucking hit him" lip tells me and i look at him "oh fuck it" i hear him say to himself, and he turns back around punching frank in the face and frank falls to the ground "fuck" lip yells shaking his hand walking out of the bar "debs?" frank asks her reaching his hand out "you do this, you are on your own and im not kidding frank. im done. im gone" fiona tells him and i follow lip out 

"fuck man, you all right" i ask him pulling a pack smokes out of my pocket lighting one taking a drag then handing it to lip "yeah, yeah. im good. i fucking hate him" lip tells me "dont we all" i say to lip and then fiona calls me "hey whats up fi" "did you find lip?" she asks me "yeah im with him now" i tell her "ok can you guys come to the house steve bought, its right next door" "yeah yeah ok were coming" i tell her and hang up "what'd she want" lip asks me handing the cigarette back to me "she wants us to go to her and steves house" i tell him "alright he says and i throw the cigarette to the side, and we start walking to the house 

when we get there we open the door and walk right in "jesus this place smells like old man Harris" lip says closing the door "what'd monica want" fiona asks lip "uh she wants us to come over for dinner, so kind of family meeting" lip tells us "fucking family"i say "you tell her we know liams franks"fiona asks him "yeah" lip says, and we walk over to sit down and steve hands us a beer "you have any pot" fiona asks  "if i have to go see mom conscious i might commit a violent felony" fiona continues "thats the first time in a long time ive heard you call her mom" i say "i did?" she asks and lip and i nod "i dont know if i ever felt she was my mom" fiona says "lip, iz, and i got our DNA test done" ian says and steve lights a joint handing it to fiona and carl tries to grab it out steve slaps his hands and ian pulls him to sit back down "why" she asks "we got excited at the ides of not being franks" lip tells her "and if none of us are his, youd have an easier time becoming our legal guardian" i say and fiona hands the joint to ian "lips gonna go pick up the results in about an hour" i tell her "well here's to you not being franks" fiona says and ian passes me the joint. 

we walk over to our house, and we all sit at the table, i sit next to ian and lip wasnt there because he went to get the results "okay there" monica says setting a pan down in the center of the table "i hope everybody's hungry, there you go ian it's your favorite" monica says "what is it?" ian asks "lasagna" monica tells him and that was not his favorite "carl could you start passing the salad please" monica tells him and carl looks at me and i nod "monicas liams mothers and i know you won't be happy but--" bob starts saying when monica cuts her off "jesus bob can we just enjoy our dinner and then talk after" monica tells her "talk about what" debbie asks her "debbie please" monica says "wheres lip" monica asks "he had something to do" i tell her "hes not coming?" monica asks and frank walks into the door "sorry im late. did i miss the chow?ooh looks good" frank says taking off his jacket and hat "if you called us here to tell us youre taking liam and leaving again we dont wanna hear it" fiona tells monica "fiona i know your upset, i get it. i was married to frank for 18 years. i know its like swallowing broken glass every day" monica says "hey" frank tells her pouring soda into a cup for himself and lip walks in "oh lip wonderful we just started" monica tells him "your mother said 6:30, you lose your watch?" bob says getting up putting liam in his crib "no i dont have a watch bob" lip tells her sitting next to fi "whats the news" i ask lip "havent opened it yet, figured we should do it together" lip tells ian and i "thanks" ian says "ian, iz, and i decided to get our DNA tests done too, on the off chance that maybe we arent franks kids" lip says out loud "what" Monica says to him confused "yeah we figured why should you and bob get to have all the fun" i tell her "holy shit" lip says when he open the envelope "congratulations ian, you are not frank Gallagher son" lip tells him and i loom at ian then frank and ian look at eachother 

"honestly sweetie, i dont know. there was that week in the summer of '95 that i did a lot of PCP" monica says to ian "you did PCP? without me? you promised we would do that together" franks says to monica "excuse me, can we get back to who ians father is" fiona says to frank and monica and i see steve smiling taking in more of our family drama "uh i like the idea of monica cheating on frank, really keep my image of you on track mom" i say taking another bite of my food and lip looks at me smiling "will somebody please tell me what were talking about?" frank asks "all right the results say that you, frank are absolutely not my father. but my father is a close relative, most likely one of your brothers" "brothers?" steve says about to laugh and fiona hits his arm "dad has brothers?" debbie asks "yeah he has two, right?" lip asks "three" fiona says looking at monica "i think Iz and i met the one that sells smoked sausage and razor blades out the trunk of his car" lip says "all right, great" ian says leaning back in his chair "i honestly dont know" monica says "are we still related?" debbie asks "of course you are" i tell her "not only did you lie to me about the PCP, you fucked my brother. whats next? you gonna take up with a black lady man? oh i forgot, thats already happened" frank says to monica and bob puts her fork down looking at frank and steve lets out a laugh "sorry sorry" he says "how can we get back together now" frank asks monica "i have never, ever had any intention of getting back together with you frank. you only tricked me into coming here to get some settlement money" monica says to him "i wanted to see you again" frank says to monica "so you pretended that she won a teddy bear?' bob asks him "you know how much i love teddy bears" monica says to frank "you and monica are over, frank. me and monica are getting married" bob tells us "shes still married to me" frank tells bob "not for long, shes getting a divorce" bob tells him "how can two ladies get married?" carl asks "there lesbians, penetration isnt required for sex to occur" debbie tells him, and we all look at her "what its legal now in several states" she says "divorce frank, you owe her at least that" bob tells him "what about what she owes my, she gonna leave me again with six kids? leave me to deal with the all the shit?" frank says "you mean leave me to deal with the shit" fiona says to him "i didnt leave you, you drove me out. no self respected person can live like that, you treated me like a dog" monica says but is cut off by frank kissing her "woah" "hey" "frank" we all say and i pull him to sit back down "you need to let us raise liam. i dont care what the tests result say. liam belongs with us" bob says "nobody's taking liam" lip yells at her "i cant believe you want a divorce" frank says to monica "me and bob deserve a family of our own" monica says "you had a family. you left it" fiona tells her "i didnt leave you, he drove me out" monica tells fiona "you shouldve protected us" fiona tells monica "i tried but i couldnt. fiona if i didnt leave, i would have died" monica tells her "oh cut the shit Myrna Loy" frank tells monica "you have no idea what it was like being married to him. you have no idea how bad it was" monica says to fiona standing up slightly in her chair "yeah? try me" lip tells her "oh come on now" frank says offended "okay. i know that he tortured you" fiona says standing up"i know that he ruined you. but we didnt marry him mom, you did. you left us with him. if you love us, any of us in any way. you'll leave liam, take your girlfriend, get in your truck and never come back" fiona tells monica leaving the table and the house, steve following her "come on guys" i tell carl and debbie, and they stand walking out of the house and lip goes right after them "ian" i say grabbing his hand, and he stands "thanks for the dinner mom, it was good" i tell her walking out of the house as well, and we all walk over to steves new house