Kevin's House.
After a long bout of explaining until his scalp tingled, Kevin finally got through to Ethel. He then exhaled a long breath of relief, genuinely feeling extremely tired.
"Alright, Ethel, go take care of Jonah. I have to go to work. Will you be okay at home by yourself?" Kevin honestly didn't dare stay here for now, terrified that Ethel would want to express her gratitude again.
Ethel was very simple and didn't have complicated thoughts. She nodded with a smile. "No problem, Mr. Kevin. You go to work."
Kevin smiled goofily and left.
The Alibi Room.
At this time nearing noon, barflies like Kermit were already sitting on the high stools at the bar, leisurely drinking and enjoying life.
Kevin had worked here for many years. This place was like a second home, and he felt very comfortable coming here. Soon, he started chatting with Kermit and the other drunks.
As they chatted, someone mentioned Frank, and the crowd started talking about the bet between Dexter and Frank.
"It's been almost two days, right? Frank really hasn't come to drink."
"When it comes to money, Frank has always been serious. Maybe he can really go two weeks without drinking."
"Impossible. It's an addiction. How can it be overcome so easily!"
"Hehe..."
"Haha, how about this? Let's make a bet too? Bet on whether Frank can do it, how about it?"
Hearing this proposal, the group of drunks instantly became interested.
Subsequently, after some discussion, Kermit and the others formulated a winner-takes-all bet. That is, betting on exactly how many days Frank could last.
The drunks all took out money and handed it to Kevin for safekeeping.
Kevin chuckled.
The atmosphere in the Alibi Room was as joyous as ever.
---
The Hospital.
Frank unhesitatingly treated this beating as an opportunity to score drugs. Lying on the hospital bed, he put on an Oscar-worthy performance, wailing desperately, "It hurts, it hurts! I need medicine, give me medicine!"
A short while later.
Not far away, someone from the finance department looked at Frank with disgust for a few seconds, then turned to the doctor unfortunately responsible for Frank. "He won't die?"
The doctor smiled. "Even if the world ends, Frank won't die."
"Good. Then hurry up and kick him out. The finance department has given up on getting money from him; we just want to minimize losses as much as possible."
The doctor heard this and couldn't help but feel the finance department was truly pathetic. He nodded cheerfully. "Will do right away."
Frank hadn't scored any drugs yet, so naturally, he started shouting desperately, "What are you doing? Kidnapping!"
"I'm hurt! You can't kick me out!"
"I am a legal American citizen, not an illegal immigrant! I will sue you!"
Frank shouted non-stop.
Two burly male nurses said nothing, pulled Frank forcibly from the bed, held him from left and right, and walked quickly toward the hospital's back door.
The two burly male nurses remained silent and sped up.
Finally, arriving at the back door, the two burly male nurses exchanged a glance and tacitly threw Frank onto the grass nearby with force, just like throwing trash.
And honestly, there was really nothing wrong with doing so.
In a certain sense, what difference was there between Comrade Frank Gallagher and trash?
Thrown onto the ground, indeed having several broken ribs and multiple bruises on his body, Frank was truly in pain and immediately howled, "Ahhh~~~"
After screaming for a while, the pain subsided slightly. Frank gritted his teeth, stood up, and cursed wildly at the hospital's back door, waving his arms and legs.
After cursing for quite a while, Frank finally had enough. Angry and unhappy, he turned around and limped toward home.
Where else could he go?
He could only go home and let those little brats take care of him.
---
Time flew. Saturday and Sunday passed quickly amidst chaos.
It was a new week.
Monday.
7:00 AM.
Fiona, who got home at 3:00 AM last night and had only slept for four hours, heard the alarm clock ring and woke up with a start. Then, she hurriedly woke up Jimmy, who was sleeping soundly beside her. "Wake up. We have to be at the courthouse on time."
Jimmy was sleeping soundly. Being forcibly woken up for that idiot Lip, he was truly helpless.
But, what could he do?
According to Tony's instructions, he had to provide for Fiona well, making her unable to leave him!
Jimmy sighed silently and had to get up obediently, wash up, change clothes, and eat breakfast.
Ian and Carl were both at home. Moreover, they both took half a day off today. They wouldn't go to work in the morning but would go to the courthouse with Fiona.
This wasn't a voluntary choice by Ian and Carl, but the result of Fiona's forceful instructions last night.
Yes, after these two days, Fiona's relationship with the Gallagher family had become much closer. More importantly, Fiona had reverted a bit to her old self, starting to order Ian and Carl around.
No way around it; Fiona's personality was just like that.
Carl was quite annoyed by this.
It is worth mentioning that Ian, who was currently in love with Kash and whose "love brain" was at work again, didn't care much because his mind was elsewhere. He just went along with Fiona without much emotion.
8:00 AM.
After finishing breakfast, Fiona hurriedly stood up and clapped her hands. "It's eight o'clock. Ian, Carl, let's go. We can't be late!"
Before long.
Fiona, Jimmy, Ian, Carl, and Liam all got into the car.
Jimmy stepped on the gas and drove rapidly toward the courthouse.
Arriving at the courthouse, they waited for a short while until the lawyer Jimmy contacted yesterday arrived. The control-freak Fiona immediately started nagging the lawyer worriedly, repeatedly emphasizing like an idiotic mother that Lip was a good kid, very smart, and would have a bright future, which shouldn't be ruined by this small matter...
Anyway, it was just the same old talk over and over again.
The lawyer was long familiar with this and didn't argue with Fiona. He just picked some words Fiona would want to hear and said them briefly.
Facts proved this lawyer was really quite capable.
Fiona felt much more relieved after listening.
After another while.
Tony and Jason arrived separately, bringing Monica and Lip.
Seeing Lip at a glance, Fiona immediately ran over anxiously.
As for Tony and Monica, they were both ignored by Fiona.
"Are you okay?" Arriving in front of Lip and blocking the way, Fiona asked anxiously.
Tony, walking beside Lip, smiled and didn't make a sound. He just nodded to Jason, signaling him to stop and give Fiona a little time.
Lip, as usual, acted like an idiot putting on an indifferent posture. "I'm fine."
Having replied, Lip looked at Ian and the others in turn, then at the man in the suit who was obviously a lawyer. He immediately breathed a silent sigh of relief.
The reason was simple.
Deep down, Lip was really afraid of being sent back to juvie.