Only You - [Lip Gallagher]

Your Honor, if I may

My leg bounced anxiously as I looked around the courtroom – despite my lifelong dream of becoming a lawyer, courtrooms give me immense anxiety. "Hey, it's gonna be okay." Veronica whispered to me as she bounces Liam gently on her leg to keep him calm, I nod and lean back in the pew. Just then Lip finally strolls in and carefully walks by Veronica and I to sit by me, "You look great." He kisses my cheek, "Thanks." I say, "Hey, calm down." He notices my fear, "She's gonna win." He reassures me, "It's not that, courtrooms give me anxiety." I explained, "And you want to be a lawyer?" He teases me, "I know." I roll my eyes at myself, "All rise." The marshal announces, we all stand, "You may be seated." The judge says as he sits down.

"DFS, like to get us started here?" The Judge asked, and Britney stood up. "Thank you, Your Honor. Britney Sturges, Department of Family Services. After receiving a report about the home, I found the children under Francis Gallagher in a state of neglect. We subsequently removed the children from the home for their protection." She explains, "Mr. Gallagher, you want the children back?" The Judge questioned, and I roll my eyes — he doesn't give a shit about his kids, just the welfare checks that come with them. "They're my kids, Your Honor." Frank raises his hands in defense, "Bullshit." I mumble under my breath and Lip places his hand on my thigh giving me a slight squeeze. "The mother had relinquished her parental rights, and Ms. Gallagher has filed a petition to terminate the father's parental rights." "Yes, Your Honor," Fiona confirmed. "Are you prepared to assume custody?" "I am. I can produce a stable environment for the kids. Something that has been sorely lacking with our father. I have a full-time job, and I will soon own a home." She handed the papers off to her lawyer.

"Your brother Ian testified about your father's months-long absence. Did his disappearance make you sad?" The judge asks Carl who sits at the front of the room, he shrugs, "I don't know." He says honestly, "Were you happy when he returned?" The judge asks further, "He got me into camp." Carl explains, "Camp?" "For my first time." "Were you happy at camp, Carl?" The judge asks, "Yup." Carl says with a smirk, "Happy when he returned?" The judge asks about Frank again, "I don't know." He answers again. "What about you Deborah? Were you happy when your father came back?" The judge asked Debs, she hesitated before answering. "I was glad he wasn't dead." "You miss him while he was gone?" "Uh," she nodded. "Very much." I sigh and begin bouncing my leg again. "Did he get you into camp?" "No. I spent the summer at the pool, daddy helped me learn." Debbie says with a smile, "How to swim?" The judge asks "Sort of. It was a hard summer. Wouldn't have made it through without him." "What the fuck?" Lip whispered, "Fiona helped me too," Debbie added. "Mr. Gallagher, you have very special children." The judge compliments and I roll my eyes once more,  "That's why I had to leave, Your Honor," Frank said. "I couldn't stand to see them live through my battles with addiction any longer." – holy shit, I thought to myself. – "It was my fight. Not theirs." "So you left," Judge asked the leading question. "To get help. Sometimes, the hardest part is admitting you need it. And I didn't want to come home until I was clean and sober. A father they could be proud of." Frank pathetically lied, "This is such a fucking joke," I muttered as I shifted myself in the pew to sit up straight. "It isn't easy," he went on, and wiggled a sober chip in his hands. "But every day I still have one of these is a good day." "You're not buying this, are you?" Fiona asked with an unamused smile. "Miss Gallagher," the Judge warned. "Have you seen his record?!" "Right here," he tapped his desk. "Breaking and entering, drunk and disorderly, public urination, solicitation, possession, possession with intent, domestic disturbance, and four DUIs, and you don't even own a car." The judge was shocked. "Alcohol is a cruel mistress" Frank defends his actions. "He hasn't stopped drinking." Fiona says, "He never will." Fiona sounds heartbroken.

Frank stood up. "Your Honor, if I may? Fiona has been hurt by my behavior too many times to believe I've changed; that's my fault, not hers. She has kept things going in my absence and I will forever be grateful. I'm not the perfect parent. I like to have a good time to live life to the fullest. Sometimes I go too far. But I love my kids." He over all of them, "They mean the world to me. I don't know what I'd be if I wasn't a dad. I'd be nothing. Please don't take my kids away from me." Fake tears began to swell Frank's eyes as he sat back down.  The Judge turned to Fiona, "Ms. Gallagher, do you want to tell me why your father should be declared unfit?" The room fell into a heavy silence as Fiona glanced over to Debbie and Carl. "We were living out of a car once. Uncle Nick had kicked us out. Couldn't find anyone else who'd take us in. Lip and Ian and me were sleeping in the back seat when Frank pulled over. Middle of the night. I think it was Halsted. Told me to take the boys and sit on the curb, and he'd be right back. I was six. A few hours later, we're still sitting on the sidewalk and Ian's head is burning up. He's hysterical. I don't know what to do. So I ran down the street, Lip under one arm, Ian under the other, trying to flag down help." My heartaches, I know this story, the pain in Fiona's voice strikes me with each word, ""Would've been easier scoring crack than a ride to the clinic," she continued. "I finally made it on foot. They said Ian had a fever of one hundred and four. Another couple hours, and who knows? I didn't find Frank till a couple days later; first thing he asked me was how much money I had on me. I wish I could say that was the only time, but it was just the first. My mother is bipolar. And my father is an alcoholic and an addict. He takes what he pleases and he offers nothing. No money, no support; I've done what I could to help raise my siblings. I wish I could have done more. I'm not asking for your pity or your admiration. I just wanna give these kids everything they deserve because they're great kids, and they deserve better." The Judge straightened up. "Chambers, please." Fiona and her lawyer then shuffled out of the room, we share confused looks with each other, "What the fuck?" Ian asks me and I shrug.

After a few minutes, Fiona and the judge walked back in. He settled himself at his desk. "Mr. Gallagher, you've admitted it's been challenging to handle this responsibility on your own. Now, if I allow you to retain your parental rights, would you consent to your daughter becoming guardian to these children?" "They'd still be my kids?" He asks, causing my eyes to roll, "Provided you attend sixty days of AA." "But she'd have all the responsibility?" "Not all, but yes." Frank nodded eagerly. "Works for me." The Judge gestured for Fiona to stand up, and she did. "Do you agree to be the guardian of these children?" She hesitated for a moment which caused my anxiety to bubble in my throat, "yes, I do." Her words calmed me down instantly. "Well, that would be my order, then." The judge said with a smile, "Take your children home."

The stress those words took off my shoulders was indescribable, my Gallaghers will be together and be safe, maybe things will start to look up from here.