There was no way Fiona had the money to pay those three bills…
Absolutely no way.
With no other options, Fiona had no choice but to grit her teeth and start bullshitting, buying time however she could.
The people from the finance department knew perfectly well that Fiona was stalling—but what could they do? This whole family was a bunch of freeloaders, flat broke on top of it. Standing around arguing with them wasn't going to magically make money appear.
"Twenty-four hours," the finance clerk said coldly. "If you don't pay, the hospital will call the police, and Monica Gallagher will be kicked out."
They were out of options. If threats were all they had left, then threats it was.
All Fiona could do was nod, swallow what little dignity she had left, and keep lying. There was literally nothing else she could do.
"Thank you… thank you…" she muttered.
The finance staff didn't bother saying another word and turned around to leave.
The moment they stepped out of the hospital room, Fiona's legs gave out. She collapsed into a chair, tears pouring down her face uncontrollably.
Steve's heart clenched at the sight. He reached out, gently rested a hand on her head, and gave her time to cry before softly saying, "I can help you pay the medical bills."
Fiona snapped her head up, staring at him. She clenched her teeth and said firmly, "No. We can't pay you back. We'll handle this ourselves."
Ah, that damn pride.
Kind of ironic, wasn't it?
Dodging hospital bills like it was nothing, sleeping around without a second thought—but now dignity suddenly mattered?
Steve sighed helplessly. "You don't have to pay me back."
"No," Fiona wiped her tears and shook her head hard. "I can't use your money. This isn't your problem."
Steve had no comeback. "Then what are you going to do?"
Before Fiona could answer, Lip spoke up, completely unapologetic. "Skip the bill, obviously. This hospital makes plenty of money. They don't need ours. Call the cops if they want—we don't have a cent."
Steve was speechless. "…"
Fiona felt awkward too. She knew it wasn't right, so she quickly changed the subject. "It's already late. Let's go home. We'll deal with everything else in the morning."
Lip, Ian, and Carl had no objections.
Debbie didn't want to leave Monica and wanted to stay behind.
"No," Fiona said gently. "There's no point in you staying. Be good. We're going home."
Debbie still refused.
Lip and Ian had to step in and talk her into it.
In the end, all seven of them squeezed into Steve's BMW and headed back to the Gallagher house.
Outside, next to Roberta's truck, two pools of blood had frozen solid on the ground, painfully visible.
All seven of them looked at it in silence.
Suddenly, Lip's eyes lit up. An idea hit him, and he said excitedly, "Bob's keys might still be at our place!"
"There could be her address in the truck."
"Ian, let's search it, then sell the truck. We could make a decent amount of money!"
Fiona froze when she heard that.
Ian nodded without hesitation.
Carl's eyes sparkled. "I'm in. I want a cut too!"
Debbie nodded as well. "Me too!"
Steve thought it wasn't a terrible idea. "That way, you can at least pay the medical bills."
Lip shot him a look like he'd just said the dumbest thing imaginable and grinned. "Are you kidding me? We finally get our hands on some money, and you want to pay hospital bills? Yeah, right."
Steve thought he already had a pretty solid understanding of how shameless the Gallaghers were—but at that moment, he was still shocked speechless all over again.
Fiona didn't look at Steve. She knew this wasn't exactly right, but she still supported it. Stealing from dead people's homes was something the Gallaghers had done plenty of times before.
"I'm coming with you," she said. "But let's be clear—if Bob has anyone else living with her, we do not go inside."
"Deal," Lip replied. "But there's basically no chance. If she had anyone, she wouldn't have been crashing at our place. And I never saw her call anyone."
Fiona nodded. "Still—be careful."
"Yeah."
And just like that, the five Gallaghers decided to move.
Not long after, Liam—who'd been asleep the whole time—was put back into his crib.
Lip found the keys Roberta had left in her jacket at the Gallagher house.
The five Gallaghers headed out together.
Lip climbed into the truck first and searched around, quickly finding a few letters that revealed Roberta's address.
"Got it!" Lip said excitedly, turning to Fiona and the others.
Then came the problem.
The truck only had two seats—maybe three people if they squeezed.
There was no way all five of them could fit.
"Steve… want to come with us?" Fiona had no choice but to ask.
Truth was, Steve didn't want to go.
Stealing cars was illegal, sure—but he trusted his skills and his caution. He knew how to avoid getting caught.
Breaking into a stranger's house with the Gallaghers, though?
That was a whole different level.
He hesitated, conflicted for a moment, then made up his mind: he'd stay in the car once they got there.
"Okay," he said.
Soon enough, the six of them were on the road, heading straight for Roberta's place.
It wasn't far.
About thirty minutes later, they arrived.
It was well past midnight. The neighborhood was pitch-black, not a soul in sight.
"I'll go in first and check," Lip said after looking around carefully. He told Ian in the passenger seat, then repeated it to Fiona and the others in Steve's car. "Wait for my signal."
"Be careful," Fiona reminded him.
Lip didn't waste words. He walked straight to Roberta's door, unlocked it with the key, and went inside.
Five or six minutes passed.
No one was there.
Lip came back out and waved them over.
Fiona and the others started to get out of the car.
Steve stayed put. "I'll keep watch. You guys be quick."
Fiona and Debbie both turned to look at him, a little surprised.
"Alright," Fiona said. She understood immediately that Steve didn't want to go inside and didn't push him. She got out of the car and headed toward Lip.
Moments later, all five Gallaghers were inside Roberta's house.
Lip noticed Steve hadn't followed and asked, "Where's Steve?"
Fiona gave a wry smile and shook her head. "He said he'd keep lookout."
Lip snorted and said with undisguised contempt, "Pussy."
Honestly, Fiona kind of agreed.
After all, Steve was a car thief—not exactly some upstanding citizen.
"Let's hurry up," Fiona said, changing the subject. "Get in, grab what we can, and get out."
Lip nodded. "Nice house, too bad we can't take it with us. Otherwise we'd be rich tonight."
The five Gallaghers got to work.
---
On the side of the road, inside the BMW, Steve lit a cigarette and stared at Roberta's house.
His understanding of Fiona's shamelessness had just reached a whole new level.
He chuckled silently, shaking his head.