when i was walking back to my grandmothers there was a lot of stuff going through my mind. i didn't even know what lip and i were, did i even like lip? did lip like me?

i walked over to the door and knocked, when the door open i saw my brother.

"oh, my gosh mel where have you been?" mike asked as he pulled me into a hug.

"i was with lip helping them find frank." i told them.

"oh, i heard he was in canada." emma said with a laugh as she ate some mac and cheese.

"hey, uh, mel, mom came by." mike told me.

"for what?" i asked crossing my arms over my chest.

"she said she's trying to be a real parent but i don't buy any of that shit." mike said.

"yeah, i don't either." emma said.

"hey, where's grams?" i asked.

"she went out to the store, she'll be back soon." mike told me.

i sat down at the table with my two siblings and we all ate lunch.

"did you hear that mickey is out to kill ian?" mike asked.

"really? why?" i asked drinking a beer from the fridge.

"mandy tried to say he raped her." mike said.

"well isn't that interesting." i said with a chuckle.

"oh, stuart came by looking for you." emma told me as i nodded.

"i'm sure i'll find him later." i replied.

"he said it was important." mike told me as i shrugged.

"i should probably go check on ian." i said as i grabbed a cigarette and walked over to the door.

"tells grams i'll be back later!" i said walking out the door.

i walked over to gallaghers house and saw ian.

"hey, what's this about mickey and his brothers wanting to kill you?" i asked him.

"well, apparently mandy told them i raped her so then i told her the truth about me being gay and now she's cool, she wants me to pretend to be her boyfriend now." ian explained.

"well then, you go tiger." i said with a wink as i turned around and saw lip with his face beat up.

"oh, my gosh lip what happened." i said placing my hand gently on his face.

"well, i'm going go, i've gotta get to work." ian told us.

"uh, it's fine mickey couldn't find ian so they beat me up instead." lip said as he grabbed my hand and held it in his.

"hey, um, something's been on my mind all day." i said as lip walked closer to me and placed his hand on my face.

"and what's that?" lip asked as he pressed his lips on top of mine.

"what are we?" i asked in between kisses making lip pull away.

"look, mel i like you... a lot. and i hope that you like me too." lip said grabbing my hands holding them in mine.

"i like you too lip, i just... i'm scared to fuck up and we'll hate each other. what if i do something to hurt you. i just can't lose you." i said.

"mel, there's nothing that you could do that can hurt me, i've been through enough shit in my life." lip said as he smashed his lips on top of mine.

i felt like i was on top of the world, when lip kissed me its like all my problems disappeared, it was like we were the only two people in the world.

i felt lip put his hands on my butt and i jumped and wrapped my legs around his waist as he held me up and i felt him get hard.

this was the second time we were having sex and i was starting to feel like maybe lip and i were meant to be together.

as long as i was with lip i felt safe. i felt like i was untouchable.

-

the next morning i woke up and i didn't feel lip beside me so i grabbed my cell phone and called lip.

"good morning sunshine." lip said answering his phone.

"hey, where are you?" i asked him.

"i'm at some dead lady's house trying to see if i can score a water heater. you can come over here if you want." lip said.

"alright, i'm on my way just text me the address." i told him.

"okay." lip said hanging up the phone as i got out of his bed and got dressed.

i walked over to the house where lip and ian were and i saw they had the water heater.

"need some help?" i asked them.

"yeah, thanks mel." ian said as i walked over and helped them bring it down the sidewalk with a grocery cart.

i saw a car slow down and looked to see fiona shouting through the window.

"hey, almost new." lip said referring to the heater.

"debbie and emma stole a baby. we have to figure out how to return it." fiona told them.

"wait, what?" i said not sure if i was hearing fiona correctly.

"debbie and emma stole a baby?" lip asked.

"yeah." steve replied.

"why?" ian asked.

"it's debbie and emma." fiona simply replied.

"i did not see that coming." lip said.

"yeah, me neither." i said.

"can't we just give it back?" lip asked.

"i wish we could. it's too late now." steve said.

"wow." lip said.

"wow is right." mike said from the backseat of the car.

"find carl and get home now." fiona told them.

"yeah." lip said as they brought the water heater over to the house.

-

we finally all got to the house and were sitting at the table.

"we need to get your story straight for the police. why did you take the boy?" fiona asked debs and emma.

i was sitting beside lip and i felt him lace his fingers with mine under the table so no one could see.

it wasn't that we didn't wanna tell the others but we just didn't wanna rush things.

"he was crying for his mom and his mom wasn't around." emma told them.

"did you try to find his mom?" fiona asked.

"no, he was crying and nobody cared. so we took him." debbie said.

"you can't say that. what's wrong with you?" fiona asked.

"hey, hey, fi." steve said trying to calm her down.

"okay, you know what, debs, was he inside or outside of the yard when you guys grabbed him?" lip asked.

"inside." debbie replied.

"then how did you guys get him out?" i asked them.

"debbie waved a snickers bar at him." emma told us.

"did anybody see you?" ian asked.

"i don't think so." emma replied.

"we just ran." debbie said.

"that wasn't suspicious." fiona said.

"so you guys were running down the street-" ian began but debbie cut him off.

"we used a stroller." debbie said.

"what stroller?" fiona asked.

"liam's old one." debbie replied.

"the one i told you to throw out?" fiona asked.

"i fixed it. for emergencies." debbie said then everyone jumped when they heard banging on the door.

"open up! hurry!" they heard veronica yell.

"shit." lip said as he went to open the door.

"what in the hell is going on?" veronica asked.

"is this that missing kid?" kev asked holding up a laundry basket that they put him in.

"debbie and emma stole him. and now we have to figure out how to give him back without getting them 36 months in juvie." fiona said.

"why in the world would she steal-" veronica said but fiona made her stop her sentence.

"there must be a couple hundred cops out there." kevin said.

"i know. i'm so sorry. debs, will you watch him for a second." fiona asked as everyone else walked into the living room.

"i'm not sure what's going on with her." fiona said.

"yeah, i thought that we were going over there to celebrate his birthday i didn't know debbie was gonna go that far." emma admitted.

"maybe it's because your mom bailed and franks a big drunk." kev said as veronica gave him a sour look.

"oh, what, i'm the asshole now? she's the only who stole a baby." kevin argued.

"alright, look she obviously planned it. i mean, she took a stroller out of the garbage and she fixed it." lip said.

"hey, debbie still is a little kid. worst thing that happens is that she gets some help." steve said.

"help?" mike said.

"what kind of help?" ian asked.

"she stole a baby." steve said.

"she's not crazy. she just sort of accidentally took a kid." fiona said.

"okay, not if she lured him out of the yard with a candy bar." steve said.

"what are you suggesting?" fiona asked him.

"some kind of professional to-" steve began.

"like, what a shrink?" lip asked cutting off steve.

"gallaghers do not do therapy." fiona told steve as if he was stupid.

then they heard tony announce over an intercom that the kid casey was missing.

"lip, we need a plan to get that boy back to his family or family services is gonna have a field day." fiona told him.

"family services?" steve asked.

"if they find out franks moved, they'll take the kids, split them up. remember what happened last time?" fiona asked.

"shit." lip mumbled.

"exactly." fiona said.

enjoy the new chapter!