Anne Gallagher

You know he's been practicing that all day, right?

We all take Jimmy's car home. It was dead silent the entire ride. No one knew what to say. Carl fell asleep, so Ian had to carry him in. We walk in to see the Thanksgiving dinner, still untouched.
"I'll clear the table." V insists. Ian and I head upstairs, and he sets Carl down on our bed. I get a good look at him. He seems less violent when he's sleeping. I think to myself. Some time passes, and I see his eyes start to open, and soon, we're just staring at each other. I could see the pain in his eyes and I assumed he could see the same in mine. We heard Fiona walk upstairs and decide to go sit in her room. But it seemed as if someone else had the same idea because Debbie was already crying in her arms. Carl leans up against the frame of the door, lifts me, and looks down as if waiting for permission to come in. Fiona opens up her other arm, and we sit down with her. Carl and I couldn't cry. I look up, and Ian was now at the door. We all ended up sleeping in her room.

The next day, Carl and I woke up alone in Fiona's bed, and for a split second, everything seemed normal. Until all of the memories came flooding back in.
"Hey, Anne. How ya doing?" Carl whispers, as if it were dangerous to speak louder than that. I could only shrug. I felt my FA start to slowly creep its way back into my system. Probably because of how exhausted I was yesterday. "Me too. Want me to carry you downstairs? Make some breakfast?" I nod. He gets out of bed, lifts me up, and we walk down. It was just Fiona and V in the kitchen, drinking coffee and putting away the milk.
"Hey Carl." Fiona starts. "You sleep okay?" She asks.
"What do you think?"
"You hungry? Let me make you two some sandwiches." Fiona offers. We hear the front door open and shut, but chose to ignore it.
"Okay." Carl says, and we sit at the island. "Remember, no PB and J for Anne. Trigger food."
"FA kicked in?" Fiona asks me.
"Yep." Carl answers. Frank starts to walk in to our view, mail in hand.
"Disability check doesn't come in for another week, Frank." Fiona says to him.
"Went to visit your mother in the hospital this morning. We have to get her out of there."
"Best place for her."
"She's fragile."
"No, Anne's fragile. Monica's broken." Fiona says to him, pointing at me. I wasn't really paying attention though. The only thing that seemed to interest me at the moment was Carl's hand. I was moving his fingers all around, getting bored as I waited for the sandwiches.
"They want to make her normal."
"They want to help her."
"By which they mean average, boring, medicated. A Stepford Monica."
"She tried to kill herself last night. Boring would be a blessing."
"They perform lobotomies now."
"No, they don't."
"Shock treatment."
"No."
"Actually, I think they do. Princess Leia did it." V states, not helping Fiona's case.
"One hundred thousand volts of electricity zapped into her skull." Frank starts. "Draws so much power, it takes out entire city blocks. When our lights dim, some poor fucker's getting his brains fried." We both look at Fiona with some concern.
"Don't listen to him. Eat your breakfast."
"What's a lobotomy?" Carl asks as Fiona gives us the sandwiches. Carl starts to cut mine into triangles.
"They jam a screwdriver into your head and scramble your brains." Frank tells him.
"No, they don't. Jesus, Frank, you're gonna scare them."
"That's exactly what a lobotomy is." Carl takes a sip of his drink.
"They're gonna put mom on her meds, make her better."
"She's not better on her meds! She's a zombie. She gives up everything she loves in life."
"Yeah, like what? Drugs? Alcohol? You?"
"Us." Fiona can only look at him. No one knew what to say. Carl just goes back to eating. "I'm gonna bust her out before they steal what makes Monica, Monica. Are you with me?"
"Leave her alone, Frank. She needs a chance to get well."
"Somebody can steal what makes you, you?" Carl asks, before taking a bite into his sandwich. I follow right behind.
"No." Fiona answers, sympathetically.
"Twins?" Frank asks.
"They aren't helping you, either!"
"Can I bring my Mac-10 pistol?" Carl perks up.
"Leave them out of this. Pistol's going back to the cops"
"Where's your sister?" Frank asks. He knows Debbie can and always will help. She still has faith that Frank will change.
"Shower." Carl answers.
"Leave Debbie alone, Frank."
"No." He truces up the stairs to go bug her. We look to V, who was sitting next to me.
"Monica will be better when she comes out of the hospital, kids." We watch Fiona open a letter.
"I passed." She says without looking up.
"What?" I ask.
"The GED, I passed." She states, looking at us, shocked. "I have to go tell Lip!" She grabs her jacket and runs out the door, leaving Carl and I with Veronica.
"Alright guys, finish eating, I gotta head out." She kisses our foreheads. Carl sets his breakfast down and notices I haven't touched mine. I was hungry, but My FA was being weird.
"You hungry?" Carl asks me. I nodded, pushing my body into Carl's chest. He picks up the fork and helps me. "Is it your FA?" I nod.
"You met his mom?" Carl and I hear as everyone comes into the kitchen. He sets down my fork, noticing I finished my food.
"Candace. A little heavy on the Botox and Chanel No. 5, but nice." Debbie answers, sitting on the stool next to us.
"So, where are we meeting?"
"Morton's, downtown." Jimmy answers. Debbie hits Carl's shoulder, and Carl hits her back. "dad has a wine locker there. Little brass plaque with his name on it." Fiona motions for Carl to come closer to him. He does, and she starts to wipe his hands down with a washcloth.
"Everybody invited?" Carl asks.
"Yep." Jimmy answers. "Dad's buying, so order the most expensive thing on the menu."
"Prime rib?" Carl nods. He loves anything that has meat on it, I swear.
"Sure."
"Bone-in porterhouse steak?" Carl presses on. I wack the side of his head.
"Anything you want." He looks to Debbie. "What do you say, Debs, free meal?"
"No can do, Jim. Busy."
"Doing what?"
"Sleeping over at Holly Herkimier's." Debbie starts going upstairs.
"Don't do anything she does!" Fiona ends the conversation.
"If she does, Debbie's gonna be 14 with a baby on her hip." I roll my eyes. Fiona laughs at my comment.
"Big ass lobster?" Carl asks about the food. Jimmy sighs.
"Oh, you bet." He gives Carl the finger gun motion. Carl just gives it right back.