Southside ~ Shameless

Chapter 43

Frank was more of an asshole than Hollie had ever expected. By some miracle he'd managed to outdo himself once again. He had been the anonymous caller who reported them to DFS.

Jimmy and Fiona had just left to speak with a lawyer about the possibility of Fiona and Hollie getting custody of the kids. Hollie was sitting at the kitchen table, twisting in her chair, trying to crack her sore back while Nick was installing a deadbolt on the back door—Hollie had asked him to put deadbolts on both doors to stop Frank from being able to come into the house.

"You okay babe?" Nick questioned.

Hollie hummed, "yeah I'm fine." She assured him but her statement was disproved when she let out a small groan of discomfort.

"What was that?" Nick questioned, panic clear in his voice. Hollie chuckled, "chill out." She told him as she pressed her hand into the top of her bump on the right side. She pushed down slightly, trying to move the baby slightly, "he foot is directly under my ribs and she keeps kicking me," she clarified.

Nick nodded, relief evident on his face. He leaned over from where he was knelt on the floor and placed a kiss on her shoulder before getting back to the lock.

While Nick moved on to the front door lock, Lip and Ian came by the house to look for something. Not long later Fiona and Jimmy returned, "we need a will." Said Fiona.

"What?" Jimmy questioned confusedly.

"You could probably download one from the internet," Hollie called out, assuming her sister was talking about Ginger.

"All right for who?" Jimmy asked.

"Aunt Ginger." said Fiona, "I'm finally going to make it official. I'm getting the house. And I need a w-2 to show I have a job." She said before looking glancing into the kitchen at Hollie, "you'll need one too." Hollie nodded.

"It doesn't matter if you can't get Monica to sign away her rights."

"We don't need her to sign," said Hollie as she stood up from the table, "I've been forging doctor's notes since first grade."

At the sound of the stairs creaking she turned her gaze to the base of the stairs where Lip had just stepped down into the kitchen, "hey, thought I heard the door."

"They let you out the group home?"

"Uh, they cut us loose, dawn til dusk." Lip explained. 

"I found them," Ian announced as he walked into the kitchen, holding up Carl's ninja throwing stars, when Fiona and Hollie both regarded him with questioning gazes he clarified, "I'm going to visit Carl and Liam. He asked for M-80s, a Nintendo DS, and ninja throwing stars."

Fiona nodded, "Could use your help," she told him, "I'm getting custody. Well, we are," she gestured between herself and Hollie. Noticing something on the ceiling support beam, Fiona reached up and yanked the ninja star out of the wall and handed it to Ian.

"Of us?"

"No some other kids," Hollie said dryly, "obviously you guys." Fiona shrugged, "it's the only way to bring everyone home and keep it that way."

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Sitting in Veronica's kitchen, listening to her rant about her troubles felt like being dunked head first into ice water and made Hollie realise what a sub par friend she was, especially lately.

"...thought it'd be wham-bam-thank -you-mom, but Kev's sperm were as gun shy as he was." V told her dejectedly before picking up something from her shopping bag which looked somewhat like a calendar, "bought an ovulation calendar," she said as she pinned it to the wall in the kitchen, "have to track her damn cycle."