The Gallagher House.
Fiona's Room.
In the dark.
Fiona lay there, eyes wide open, without a hint of sleepiness.
Steve lay on his side. His eyes were closed, but he wasn't asleep.
The hope of hiring the nanny to care for the kids so he and Fiona could live a slightly more normal life had just been completely shattered.
He couldn't say exactly why, but Steve suddenly had a moment of clarity. He realized he had been looking at it wrong the whole time.
Fiona wasn't forced to work herself to death for these kids purely out of responsibility.
She did it willingly. She tied herself to them voluntarily, perhaps even deriving a sense of pleasure or purpose from the burden.
Steve was certain: Fiona was sick. And not just a little bit.
In that case...
As long as those kids were around, there could be no real future for him and Fiona.
Time to change my attitude, Steve muttered silently to himself.
He wasn't planning to leave Fiona.
But there was a big difference between building a future and enjoying the present.
Steve decided to enjoy the present.
He was going to start playing.
Ride it 'til the wheels fall off. If it ends, it ends.
Having figured this out, Steve stopped overthinking, shut off his brain, and went to sleep.
---
Fiona was still awake. She didn't think there was anything wrong with her reaction earlier.
Are you kidding me?
Those kids were her life. Let a nanny take care of them?
Impossible.
Thinking of Steve's suggestion, Fiona sneered internally.
Fiona wasn't stupid. She obviously sensed Steve's motive behind saying that. She knew Steve wanted to get rid of the kids.
This made her angry and disappointed.
She had always taken it for granted that Steve understood her situation from the beginning and had chosen to accept it.
She didn't expect that Steve had never truly accepted it.
If that was the case, this relationship wouldn't have a happy ending.
Fiona blinked, quietly glancing at Steve's back as he faced away from her.
She hesitated for a while.
Breaking up right now... she couldn't quite bring herself to do it.
Besides, for the past three months, Steve hadn't just waited; he had genuinely done a lot for the Gallagher family.
Let's just stay together a while longer, Fiona decided silently. Breaking up now didn't feel right.
---
Two people, same bed, different dreams. Truly interesting.
---
A New Day.
Saturday.
Steve acted completely normal, chatting and laughing with Fiona, Ian, and the others before heading out to "work."
Fiona took a shower, sporting a pair of dark circles under her eyes. She shook off the fatigue, whipped up breakfast efficiently, and then spoke to Lip and the other three sitting at the table. "While we're all here, I have something to say."
Lip and the others looked at Fiona in unison.
Fiona continued, "After what happened this time, we need to change how we live. No more scamming, stealing, or grifting. We can't do that anymore."
As soon as the words came out, Lip laughed. He acted like he had just heard a hilarious joke.
Carl didn't laugh. Instead, he asked Fiona directly, "Then how are we gonna live?"
Fiona clearly saw Lip's reaction. She emphasized to him first, "Lip, I'm serious! Do you want to go back to Juvie?"
Lip looked completely indifferent. His tone dripped with arrogance as he corrected her, "We are poor people living at the bottom. Society screws us! If people like us want to survive, want to live well, we have to scam and steal!"
"The lesson we should learn from getting caught... is that we have to be smarter. We absolutely cannot get caught on camera again!"
Lip spoke with absolute seriousness and certainty.
Listening to him, Fiona suddenly felt like she was looking at another Frank.
It gave her the creeps. She was genuinely frightened.
Driven by that fear, Fiona blinked rapidly. "Lip! What kind of twisted logic is that?! If we want to live well, working hard works too! Spouting that kind of crap... how are you any different from Frank?"
Ding dong.
Because of the situation with Karen and the baby, Lip was a powder keg. He couldn't handle those words.
Whoosh.
Lip stood up abruptly. His face flushed red, veins bulging on his forehead. He roared at Fiona, "Don't you dare compare me to that piece of trash Frank!! I am NOT Frank!"
Fiona hadn't expected this outburst. She shrank back in fear.
Fiona wasn't alone; Debbie had the same reaction.
Carl acted like nothing happened, not caring in the slightest.
Ian shook his head helplessly. He couldn't be bothered to deal with Lip, letting him rage while he continued eating his breakfast.
The dining room was dead silent for a moment.
After a while.
Fiona finally snapped out of it and apologized meekly, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
Hearing this, Lip glared at Fiona, didn't say a word, grabbed his breakfast, and stomped into the living room.
Seeing this.
Fiona felt helpless. She struggled for a moment but didn't call Lip back. She took a deep breath and continued speaking to the other three. "I'm going to go out and look for a job immediately. I will make money to support you guys. The three of you, focus on school. No more shady stuff."
"From now on, leave the money-making to me. You don't need to worry about it."
"How are you going to make money?" Debbie asked weakly.
"I'll work more jobs. I promise I can make enough," Fiona said with full confidence, completely unaware of how ridiculous that sounded now that she had a criminal record.
"But you'll be so tired..." Debbie worried.
Fiona smiled, feeling gratified. Hearing that made the hardship worth it. "It's fine. Just don't worry. I will definitely make the money."
"Now, next item."
"After breakfast, I want you to help me clean the house. We need to clear out anything that shouldn't be here. My probation officer is coming at noon. If she finds anything, my parole will be revoked, and I'll be sent back to prison."
Saying this, Fiona looked at Carl. "Carl, especially you. Your knives, handcuffs, batons—hand them over."
Carl wasn't happy about that. He got anxious. "Why? I worked hard to find those!"
"No! Do you want me to go back to prison? This isn't up for negotiation!" The thought of prison made Fiona desperate, and her tone hardened.
Carl got angry. "Why is there so much bullshit as soon as you get back!"
Fiona was pissed off.
Just then, Ian spoke up. "Carl, don't talk like that. Let's just pack your stuff up and hide it somewhere else for now. You can play with it later."
Carl was satisfied with that. "That's more like it."
Seeing Carl relent, Fiona let out a sigh of relief and thanked Ian. "Thanks."
Carl ignored her.
Fiona didn't mind and turned to Ian. "Ian, you and Lip need to go to school. You've missed a lot of classes. You need to catch up."
Ian didn't argue. He nodded directly. "Okay."
"Alright, that's it. Eat up. We have work to do," Fiona smiled, feeling motivated.
Just then.
Clang, clang, clang.
Loud banging sounds came from next door.
Hearing the noise.
"What's going on?" Fiona was confused and walked outside quickly.
Carl and the others followed.
They went outside to look.
Tommy and his crew were working.
"Tommy, what's the situation?" Fiona asked, puzzled.
Tommy grinned and shouted back, "Renovations! It's gonna be noisy for a while, I'm afraid."
Fiona: "???? Who bought this house?"
"Dexter," Tommy smiled.
Fiona froze: "!!!!"
Carl got excited, grinning ear to ear. "Nice~!!!"