Southside ~ Shameless

Chapter 34

Winter was long over, spring was in full swing and summer was creeping closer and closer by the day. These days the gallagher household was busier than ever despite Frank being MIA for months now. Jimmy was living with them, having officially won Fiona back and Nick had moved in too.

The light fluttering in her stomach caused Hollie to stir awake. She rolled onto her back with a tired huff, staring up at the ceiling while she gently tapped the spot on her swollen stomach where she felt the fluttering with her index finger.

She was alone in her bedroom as Nick had left earlier for work, he'd mentioned something about a new project but she was half asleep when he told her and couldn't remember what he'd actually said.

With an exaggerated and unnecessary groan that nobody was there to witness Hollie dragged herself out of bed and to the bathroom to pee and brush her teeth.

A week ago Hollie and Nick had found out that their baby was a girl which Debbie had been thrilled about ("Theres way to many boys around here" she'd said cheerily when Hollie told her.) and for the past week or so Hollie had been woken by small flutters in her stomach, curtesy of baby girl Gallagher who was beginning to learn how to kick the shit out of Hollie's internal organs. Lovely.

It didn't hurt at all, it just felt weird. Carl said it looked like an alien trying to break free when he had noticed Hollie's stomach moving the other day when she was folding the laundry.

"You know other people live here right?" Hollie questioned when she walked into the kitchen after getting dressed for the day. Jimmy and Fiona were standing in the kitchen and Jimmys hand was down Fiona's panties. He retracted his hand, shooting Hollie a glare as she poured herself some orange juice.

Fiona pushed Jimmy's arms off of her and walked into the living room to retrieve her work clothes, "please don't tell my kids they can do things they know they can't," she said, continuing a conversation with Jimmy that Hollie had missed the start of.

"Your kids?"

"A popsicle?"

"So I'm just the nanny?" Jimmy questioned incredulously.

Feeling incredibly awkward, Hollie busied herself with checking if Liam needed his diaper changed.

"I can feed them, change them, but when Carl wants a second popsicle—"

"Carl had two popsicles for breakfast?" Said Hollie with a frown. Steve shrugged, "not really. he didn't like the first one. Banana."

Fiona and Hollie shared a look that read: 'is he for real?'

"His teeth are going to rot out of his head," said Fiona, "we just spent two grand on his braces."

"We?"

"What?"

"Not 'we' me," Jimmy corrected, "I paid for Carl's braces."

There was a beat of awkward silence before Fiona spoke, "No more popsicles for breakfast okay?"

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Later that night Hollie was dating behind Debbie, helping her brush her hair, "did you check the hospitals today?" Debbie asked.

Hollie nodded, "no Frank," she sighed. Debbie had been the most upset about Frank disappearing and had been counting the days since he'd gone.

Debbie sighed and stood up from her bed and knelt down in front of the small shrine she'd made for Frank. She folded her hands in front of her and bowed her head, silently praying.