𝙳𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙼𝚂¹ 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜

𝟎𝟎𝟖 ⋆ 𝐢 𝐨𝐰𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕥𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕨𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖.
𝕣.𝕚.𝕡, 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕦𝕟.

𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐥𝐚
𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞

-Ｉ ＯＷＥ ＹＯＵ Ａ ＭＩＬＬＩＯＮ-

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

          SEMI-EMPTY STREETS GUIDED FRANKIE TO WHERE SHE KNEW TOMMY WOULD BE.

Around a block away from their high school sat a small, run-down playground. The equipment flaked red with rust at it's joints, the years of neglect that the Chicago government invested in the Southside clearly evident. Under the darkness of the night sky, a single streetlight flickered over the enclosed area, momentarily ceasing every once and a while as it's struggled to function. It was the place where Frankie and Tommy shared their first date, a joint or two passed between their fingertips over a four-hour conversation about nothing in particular.

Over time, the place had become a sanctuary for both teenagers - a place for either to run to when they needed an escape and where the other would know where to find them. Turning through the opening in the cross-wired fence, Frankie didn't react when she unsurprisingly caught sight of the faint outline of her ex-boyfriend, his body swaying forward and back slightly on the old swing set that just about managed to stay upright.

Tommy glanced over his shoulder at the sound of crunching woodshop under Frankie's worn faux leather boots. "You didn't have to follow me here."

"I wanted to," Frankie spoke solemnly, lowering herself down onto the leather seat of the neighbouring swing. It's chains creaked under her weight in a threatening symphony, hinting that it could possibly break if she moved too dramatically. As her eyes trailed over his slumped figure beside her, Frankie couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy. "I'm sorry about them. They didn't have to treat you like that, you were just trying to help."

"They did, though," he replied, looking up to catch her stare. "I was the one who cheated on you, Franks. I deserve to be treated like shit by your family. It was to be expected, I always screw things up."

Frankie sighed in annoyance. "That's just Harry talking."

"Maybe it is, but it's still true," Tommy continued to look at her, his features lowering into a frown as regret swam in his icy orbs. "Frankie, you were always too good for me."

"Tom-"

"You do realise that you could easily get into college if you tried?" he questioned. Frankie shuddered, breaking the stare they shared. "You could do something with your life; marry some rich guy, move to Evanston or some shit were everyone has two cars in their driveway. Then there's me. One more flunked class away from being kicked out of school." He paused, causing the pair to fall into silence. "Harry was fucking right. You were always scraping the barrel by going out with me."

"Hey," Frankie reached across, placing a slender hand on his shoulder. "Don't ever say that, Tommy. Harry takes his own shit out on everyone else around him, don't let him get in your head. You're worth forty of that scumlord."

Tommy chuckled, shaking his head. "How can you still think so much of me after what I did?" Frankie didn't have an answer for him. She had thought over the situation multiple times in her mind and each time she could never figure out why she couldn't bring herself to hate him. Frankie knew deep down that she still loved him, but hurt still stung at her heart as if it were wrapped in barbed wire.

Frankie opened her mouth slightly, waiting for something - anything- to fall off her immobilised tongue. However, before she could do so, she lurched forward as a strong flash of pain shot across her stomach like a lightning bot. It was stronger than any of the cramps she had been felling all day. A suttered cry of pain escaped her throat. Tommy immediately rose to his feet and found her side, concern washing over his face as he searched for any indication about what could be wrong with the blonde.

"Franks, are you okay?" he asked.

Frankie continued to breath heavily, unable to straighten her body from the crouched position she found herself in. Tears filled her brown eyes as the pains persisted. She shook her head, her blonde hair billowing with the movement. "No, I-I need to go to the hospital."

"What?" Tommy looked over her, confused. "What's wrong?"

"I'm pregnant," she confessed, watching the astonished look wash over his face. "and I think I'm losing the baby."

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

          TOMMY WASTED NO TIME IN RUSHING HIS EX-GIRLFRIEND to the nearest emergency department. He had barely breathed a word in the time since Frankie had divulged her closely guarded secret to him. As Frankie lay on the hospital gurney, a slender hand resting closely over the small bulge in her abdomen, Tommy's eyes sat unfixed ahead of him. In truth, Tommy had been stunned into silence. He had spent the past few weeks envisaging various conversation he wanted to have with his ex-girlfriend.

None of them included her telling him she was pregnant.

Tommy did not doubt that the child she was carrying was his. While Tommy had a few sexual encounters before his relationship with Frankie, he was her first only. It unnerved Frankie how little he spoke. Two streams of tears rolled slowly down her cheeks as they waited to be seen by the doctor. While the pains had subsided in intensity, they continued to pang out every so often. A recurring reminder that she wasn't out of the woods just yet.

"Say something," Frankie softly demanded. "Please?"

"How long have you known?" his voice wasn't angry, faltering somewhere between bewilderment and curiosity. It croaked slightly with each word, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down in his throat.

"A while," she replied flatly. "I was going to tell you, but it was, um- it was the night you, ugh..." Frankie's voice fell off. She didn't need to finish her sentence to get her point across. Tommy knew exactly what she meant.

"Fuck."

"Yeah," nodded Frankie, the pair falling into silence once more. She knew he needed his time to digest the information before the doctor would eventually come with his verdict. Frankie couldn't read the expression on his face as he contemplated her words. It wasn't like she hadn't thought about his reaction. In the time that they had dated, Frankie and Tommy had barely discussed children. Both were resigned to the fact that it was so far into the distant future - if at all - that neither needed to ponder the possibility that they would end up in their current reality.

"Franks-" Tommy was cut off by the curtain surrounding them being sharply torn open. A middle-aged doctor stood at the foot of the gurney, a clipboard balanced in the palm of his strong hand. Salt and pepper hair lay unkempt atop his head, contrasting against the green surgical robes he wore.

"Frances Gallagher?" he asked, looking up at the blonde teenager.

Frankie nodded her head. "Yeah, that's me."

"I'm Dr Rhodes. You presented at triage with abdominal pain," he reverted to the clipboard to read over her information once more. "You are also pregnant, correct?"

"Yeah, I am," she replied, a shaky breath escaping her throat.

"Well, you were right to come in," he spoke, hooking her chart onto the baseboard. "How long have you been having the pain?"

"Ugh, since this morning," Frankie told him, recollecting her search for her father. "It started as these little twinges, but it's gotten worse."

"Alright," Dr Rhodes nodded his head. "I'll grab an ultrasound machine so we can get a better idea about what's going on. I'll be back as quick as I can, just make yourself comfortable."

"Yeah, of course, I can make myself comfortable," Frankie muttered under her breath once the doctor was out of earshot, the sarcasm dripping from her voice like a wet rag. "That's so fucking reassuring."

"Aren't you scared?" Tommy asked, raising his eye line to meet hers.

Frankie paused, deliberating his question. Was she scared she would lose the baby? She had forced herself not to grow attached to it - her first instinct being her intention to have an abortion. Out of what limited remaining options she had, Frankie always landed squarely on the fact that she wouldn't be raising a child. However, that still didn't shake the weight that bore down on her chest. "I just want to know what's going on," she told him, a harsh tone filtering through her voice.

After a few moments, Dr Rhodes made his way back to his patient. Behind him he pulled an ultrasound machine, its wheels squeaking with every rotation.

"Alright, if you want to lift your shirt, Ms Gallagher," he suggested. Hesitantly, Frankie pulled at the hem of the loose-fitting t-shirt she wore to expose her midsection. Now bare, the growing swell of her stomach was visible. To her right, she heard a sharp intake of breath come from her ex-boyfriend, the situation now becoming real to him. Dr Rhodes took a squeezy bottle in hand. "This is going to be cold."

Despite the prior warning, Frankie still jumped at the sensation of the cool gel on her skin. Time seemed to slow down from the moment the pressure of the probe was applied to her abdomen, the general whooshing sounds of the machine filling their ears. Frankie watched as the doctor's brow furrowed, his eyes narrowing behind large-framed glasses as he searched the screen. "What's going on?" she questioned.

"Sometimes it just takes a few.." he trailed off, allowing a rhythmic, sloshing sound to emit from the machine beside them. Frankie looked away from the doctor in front of her and met Tommy's relieved eyes, the heavy feeling lifting from her with a deep sigh. "And that's the heartbeat. Everything sounds normal to me. Looks like it too. I'll still get someone to review it, just to be sure."

"Then what caused the pain?" Tommy questioned, his features remaining contorted into a concerned expression.

"It could be any number of things," the doctor began, leaning back slightly. "Additional stress or worry can be a huge factor in it. Have you been under any excess stress recently, Ms Gallagher?"

Frankie chuckled. Stress wasn't a foreign feeling to the sixteen-year-old. She had to hold down a job to help make sure they kept a roof over their heads while also being in school. Having Frank as a father didn't do much to alleviate the situation. "I dream of not being stressed."

"Ms Gallagher, this is your body's way to telling you to slow it down," his tone was serious as he spoke. "Stress isn't good for you in general, let alone in your condition. Now, we have no record of you attending any prenatal appointments. Why is that?"

"I haven't gotten around to it, Doc," lied Frankie, her face remaining stoic.

"Those appointments are very important in determining your health and the health of the baby, especially with how far along you are," said Dr Rhodes. "I'll prescribe you some prenatal vitamins and some folic acid. Dad, can you assure she takes them?"

"What? Huh? Yeah, sure," Tommy fumbled over his words, his blue having been transfixed on the little monitor beside him.

"You also need plenty of rest, Ms Gallagher," the doctor reiterated. "I know you're still kids, but this is the time you grow up." All Frankie and Tommy could do was look at each other.

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

          "THANKS FOR THE RIDE BACK," said Frankie from the passenger side seat of Tommy's car. "And your mom too." Thankfully, the hospital made the exception to discharge the pregnant teenager into Tess O'Connors care. My father's away on business, being Frankie's excuse for Frank not being able to do so. To say Tommy's mother hadn't taken the news well was an understatement. As the words left her sons lips, the pair watched as the colour drained from her face before it contorted into one of anger, her cheeks flushing red. If they hadn't been in a public place, Frankie was sure Tess would have inflicted more than just a slap upside of Tommy's head. No doubt, she would have berated her son for knocking up his ex-girlfriend and taken away their chance at actually doing something with their lives. It was what Tommy awaited on his return home.

"That's if she doesn't kill me first," Tommy shrugged his shoulders. He gripped the steering wheel tighter, his knuckles turning white as he did so.

"She's mad, but Tess will get over it," Frankie's eyes flickered tiredly over his tense demeanour. "How are you handling it?"

"If I'm honest, I'm a little freaked out," said Tommy, his eyes catching those of his ex-girlfriend. "Maybe more than just a little, you know."

"That's okay," she nodded her head, trying to reassure him. Frankie leaned back in the seat, exhaustion hanging over her like a thunder cloud getting ready to burst. "I was the same when I found out."

"Do your family know?" Frankie shook her head in response. "Why haven't you told them?"

"I was scared. I still am," admitted Frankie, tears lining her lower waterline. "You're the first person I've told."

"I'm sorry you couldn't come to me," he said, his hand clutching the gear shift. Frankie placed hers a top of his. "I'll be there for you, whatever you want to do."

"I made up my mind almost as soon as I found out," she sighed. The pair fell into silence, just looking at each other for any hint of what each other wanted.

"I don't want to be a dad, Frankie," confessed Tommy. His chest fell with his words as if a weight had been lifted from it.

"I don't want to be a mom," the blonde agreed, relief flooding her being in the knowledge that she wasn't alone in her intentions. It was all Frankie needed at that moment, even if she would never say it out loud. Her head and her heartfelt lighter since she confessed her secret to Tommy. The reassurance of having another soul to share her worries and intentions with was enough to calm the storm that swirled in her mind since the day she found out about her pregnancy.

A soft chuckle escaped the older boy's throat. "And you're still pregnant anyway."

"And I'll still be tomorrow," she told him, looking over his shoulder at the house behind him. "I probably should face the music first. They'll be wondering where I've been."

"Worried that you've run off with me, more like it," the O'Connor boy joked. A small, tired smile curled at Frankie's lips, but she said nothing. Worry fluttered in her stomach that perhaps she had given her ex-boyfriend the wrong intention in seeking out his help earlier that day. He knew that she was carrying his baby now, but it wasn't going to change anything, was it? Despite her feelings, Frankie wasn't going to jump at the chance to reinitiate their relationship. Tommy seemed to notice the glazed over look that overtook her brown orbs. "I'll call you tomorrow, yeah?"

"Only if I unblock your number first," the Gallagher girl joked back, clicking the seatbelt open. "That's for this, Tom. I owe you a favour."

"Forget about it," he told her. "I owe you a million anyway."

Once she had safely closed the car door behind her, Tommy sped off with a small wave to his ex-girlfriend. Frankie's feet dragged across the pavement, barely being able to rise high enough to make it up the handful of steps of the front porch. She made sure to lock the front door behind her upon her entrance, near silence greeting her along with the dull light filtering through from the kitchen.

Fiona sat raised on the high school, her body hunched over the kitchen counter. A cigarette sat between her fingertips delicately, a single trail of smoke rising from the slightly red tip as it burned away. She raised her brown eyes to meet the matching ones of her younger sister. Permanent dark circles shadowed the eldest Gallagher's eyes, the evidence of her premature assumption of responsibility on show. Frankie wondered had she even attempted to go to bed that night, the clock on the wall ticking closer and closer to 2 a.m.

"I didn't think you'd still be up," admitted the blonde girl, pulling her parka closer around her. The Gallagher's couldn't afford to run the heating at all hours, meaning the cold stung a little harder in the darkness of the night.

"I couldn't sleep," Fiona tipped her cigarette over the plastic pringles lid she had appropriated into an ashtray, the fragile pillar at the tip collapsing into it. "They should be crossing the border any minute. I'm just waiting on word from Steve."

Frankie leaned against the counter opposite her sister, the grout between the tiles having turned dark over time. "What do you see in Steve?" Fiona sat up a little straighter at her sister's unanticipated question. "Like, do you think he's a good guy?"

"I thought he was," the curly-haired brunette brought the cigarette to her lips. "Until I found out he's the reason Frank's in Canada."

"Well, fuck," Frankie's eyebrows rose in astonishment. "It looks like we both have fucked up love lives then."

"Is that why you're out so late?" smoke emitted from between Fiona's lips as she spoke. "You were with Tommy?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't like that," the younger Gallagher girl said, looking away from her older sister. Frankie had hoped she would get a decent nights sleep before she had to confess her secret to her. However, having spent the evening with her ex-boyfriend and still basking in the assurance of his reaction to the news, Frankie knew there was no better time as any. "Promise me you won't get mad."

"Why would I get mad?" Fiona's eyebrows closed in on one another in her forehead, a cheeky smile playing on her lips. "What? Are you pregnant?" Frankie's eyes met her sister's once more, her facial features not budging at her words. It was all the confirmation that Fiona needed to know that her statement made in jest was, in fact, true. Fiona's back straightened fully with her mouth falling agape. "Oh, shit."

Frankie nodded her head. "Yeah," she agreed.

"Is it Tommy's?" the brunette's snubbed out the half-burnt cigarette in a hurry.

"Obviously," scoffed the pregnant teenager. "I only told him tonight. I've, ugh- I've known for a few weeks. I went to the clinic, but they said I was too far along for an abortion, so..."

"Oh, fuck, Franks," the older Gallagher rose from her seat, watching as the blonde girl grew more visibly upset before her.

"I don't want a baby, Fiona," tears began to spill over her lower lashes. "I can't bring a baby into this life. Running around making sure Frank isn't dead or getting up in the middle of the night to let the cops in. Struggling to try and even make it from paycheque to paycheque."

Frankie felt her sisters arms wrap tightly around her shoulders, her slender fingers rubbing soothing circles in her back as sobbed echoed through her chest. "It's okay. We'll figure it out," Fiona pressed her lips against her younger sisters temple, giving it a gentle peck.

"Will you help me look into adoption?"

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

          THE TYPICAL MORNING FLURRY TOOK OVER THE GALLAGHER KITCHEN. While they were in no particular rush to get onto school or work, the siblings still rose early that Saturday in anticipation for their father to make to back from Canada. None of them but Debbie were genuinely excited for Frank to return. They only awaited the assurance that they would go another week without the threat of DCFS coming knocking. Fiona hovered over the cooking in an anxious bustle, frying up bacon and sausages for her younger brothers and sisters. Such a luxury was uncommon in the Gallagher house, but Steve had treated them to a week's groceries the day before. Presumably an attempt to make good with his somewhat-girlfriend before he departed to pick up her alcoholic father in Toronto.

"What time did Frankie come home last night?" the redheaded Gallagher girl questioned, lifted a yellow mug filled with coffee to her lips.

Ian and Lip looked at each other, surprised that Frankie didn't come in to see them when she came in. "She didn't stay with Tommy, then?" Lip remarked, not breaking his eye contact with his brother.

"I don't want to hear any of that," the eldest Gallagher sibling scolded them. "Lay off Frankie, alright? She's having a rough time and we need to be there for her."

"What's wrong with her?" Ian questioned, his features morphing into a concerned expression with Fiona's warning. When Frankie hadn't returned before he sauntered off to bed the night before, Ian felt bad for being so harsh. He knew her heart was in the right place, anything Frankie ever did was for the family. He had just let his disdain for her ex-boyfriend take over, setting off his temper.

"She'll tell you when she's ready," Fiona glared at the older two of her brothers. "That means you two have to apologise."

"For what?" Lip scoffed.

"For being dicks."

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

          DAYLIGHT FILTERED THROUGH THE THIN CURTAINS of the little bedroom that Frankie shared with Debbie and Liam. Her twin bed had been shoved into the far corner of the room, barely five inches separating its edge from the bottom of Liam's cot. However, it still wasn't far enough away to hide from the sunrays that eventually fell on her closed eyelids. Blinking awake, Frankie felt a tired ache cling to her muscles, something only a good stretch would be able to relieve. The pregnant teenager tried to guess what time of the morning it was, but as her brown eyes fell upon the tiny pink clock on the far wall, she was shocked to find it was almost 1 p.m.

A shiver ran up her calves as her bare feet came in contact with the cool, wooden floor. Stepping out into the hallway, Frankie could hear the familiar sounds of her household roll up the stairs. Everyone was already awake and going about their day. Frankie felt a sense of regret wash over her, wishing she hadn't slept on so much so that she had a chance to help out with the typical Saturday activities. She wasn't due at work until 4 p.m. Perhaps she could still get in a load of laundry before she left. On the opposite end of the hallway, the door to the boy's bedroom swung open sharply. Lip stopped in its frame, staring at his twin in annoyance.

"No hello?" she questioned, scrunching the ends of her sleeves into the palms of her hands. The blonde boy pursed his lips as his blue eyes rolled in his head.

"Why the fuck are you giving him another chance?" asked Lip, taking Frankie back. Her brown eyes blinked confusedly, her brow furrowing above.

"What?"

"Tommy, I mean that's the only reason he's been sniffing around again?" Lip stepped forward, closing the space between them with every slow stride. "You've taken him back."

"You don't know what you're fucking talking about," the blonde told him.

"Yeah, well it's like I don't know shit about you anymore," her twin responded. "You're keeping secrets. I can see it eating away at you. I thought we didn't do that, Frankie."

Frankie scoffed. "You were talking to Fiona."

"Yeah, no shit I was talking to Fiona," Lip held his hands out to his side as he continued to approach her. "What's so important that you'd keep it from me?"

"You really want to know?" the Gallagher girl felt panic fill her like a flooding tap, rising up through her body like water in a glass.

"Yeah," the blonde boy nodded.

"I'm pregnant." Frankie watched as Lip took a stunned step backwards, his entire face falling at the revelation. Her bottom lip found solace between her teeth as she waited for him to respond, but it never came. "So yeah, there it is."

"Fuck," he breathed out after an unfathomably long time - well, a long time if you were to ask Frankie.

"That's what Fiona said too," she rested her shoulder against the frame of her bedroom door. Frankie could see the thoughts float through her twins mind, his blue eyes glazing over as he did so.

"You keeping it?" he questioned.

"Fuck no."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Too late for an abortion," Frankie responded with a shrug of her shoulders. "So, adoption I suppose."

"Yeah, well make sure you get your money's worth from whatever couple you pick," Lip told her, the red hue of anger seeping away from his fae.

"You're not mad?" examined the pregnant girl.

"You thought I'd be mad at you for that?" Lip couldn't say much. He had only been confronting her moments prior over her relationship with Tommy. His short temper had been his Achilles heel. It haunted him like an ugly demon, always lurking in the back of his skull. Frankie could both find a way to calm him down or spur on the inferno that burned inside him when it took over. Either way, she'd always be there at the end.

"I don't know, every reaction kind of went through my head," admitted his twin, a hint of sadness glimmering in her brown eyes. "Disappointment was always the worst."

Lip sighed. "Franks, it's going to take a lot more than you getting knocked up for me to be disappointed in you."

"Even if I kill someone?" a smirk played on her plump lips.

"That might just do it, yeah," Lip chuckled along with his sister. "I'm sorry for being a dick."

"I'm not giving Tommy another chance, by the way," Frankie told him. "I only told him last night."

"So, I can't beat him up?" he asked, earning a warning glare from the blonde girl. "Alright."

"I hate fighting with you," the Gallagher girl confessed, wrapping her arms around him. She felt his strong around encircle her shoulder, pulling her close to him.

"Same here, shithead."

For the first time in a while, Frankie went without the heavy weight of her secret bearing down on her shoulders and with that, she felt like she could finally breath easy.

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

so they finally know!!!!

no more frankie being angsty
- who am i kidding? lol

let me know what you think!

thank you all for the positive response
to the previous chapter. it means so much.

also we've make it to 6k views!
thank you so so much!

this has been by far my favourite book i've ever written.
i love writing it and i love updating.