Hospital — General Ward
Faced with a question that would be completely ordinary for most people, Fiona fell silent for two seconds…
Deny it?
What would be the point?
With no real choice, Fiona braced herself and nodded. "I'm his daughter."
"Alright. Then I need to talk to you about Mr. Frank Gallagher's medical bill for this visit, as well as the unpaid medical expenses he's accumulated over the past nearly thirteen years."
The hospital billing staff said this calmly, even though they didn't have much hope deep down.
"Also, not too long ago, doctors reported that Philip Gallagher and Ian Gallagher received treatment at our hospital and left without paying."
"To my understanding, Philip Gallagher and Ian Gallagher are also members of your family."
"How do you plan to take care of these expenses?"
Fiona was speechless. "…"
How was she supposed to pay?
There was no way. Absolutely no way.
"I… I came out in a hurry and didn't bring my wallet," Fiona lied through her teeth. "When it's morning, I'll definitely pay…"
The billing staff weren't stupid. They obviously didn't believe her.
"This hospital is not a charity," the staff member said flatly. "By law, we are not allowed to refuse treatment to patients in life-threatening emergencies due to unpaid fees."
"At this point, Mr. Frank Gallagher is no longer in critical condition. Legally speaking, we have fulfilled our obligations."
"By noon today, please either settle the outstanding medical bills or go to the billing office to work out a payment plan."
"Otherwise, we will discharge Mr. Frank Gallagher."
"Do you understand?"
Fiona felt like she was about to collapse.
No hope. No dignity. Life was just this hard…
Holding back tears, Fiona nodded and forced the words out through clenched teeth. "I understand."
The billing staff said nothing more and turned to leave.
Once they were a little farther away—
Fiona finally couldn't hold it together anymore. Tears welled up in her eyes.
Debbie, Carl, and Kevin all saw it.
Debbie reached out and tugged on Fiona's arm, not knowing what to say.
Carl was the same—completely at a loss.
Kevin glanced at Frank on the hospital bed. Even though he was asleep, his face looked oddly content thanks to the drugs. Kevin felt nothing but helplessness. He gently patted Fiona's shoulder.
"I'll take you guys home. It's already past midnight. Frank's out cold, and staying here won't help. Whatever happens after sunrise… get some sleep first. We'll deal with it then."
Fiona rubbed her eyes and nodded. "Okay."
The four of them left the hospital and got into the car.
Back at the Gallagher house—
Using the last of her strength, Fiona got Debbie, Carl, Lip, Ian, and Liam settled. The moment she collapsed onto her bed, she felt completely drained. She didn't want to move even an inch.
Tears streamed down her face.
Before she knew it, she passed out.
---
Morning came.
The alarm kept blaring.
After barely three hours of sleep, Fiona was jolted awake. She opened her eyes, then shut them again, instinctively wanting to just keep sleeping—forget everything, ignore everything, and sleep until the world disappeared.
Unfortunately—
She didn't have that option.
Five siblings needed breakfast.
And she had to go to work. She had to make money, or they wouldn't survive.
It was like this every day: the moment she opened her eyes, a tidal wave of pressure came crashing down on her.
Fiona opened her eyes again, feeling like she couldn't breathe.
Even so, she carried that suffocating feeling with her, gritted her teeth, got out of bed, and started her daily routine—going room to room to wake Debbie, Carl, and the rest.
Kitchen / Dining Area
Debbie blinked, watching Fiona cook breakfast. After hesitating for a moment, she finally asked, "Fiona… what are we going to do about Frank?"
The moment she heard Frank's name, Fiona's body stiffened. The suffocating feeling worsened. She quickly took a silent deep breath.
"Let them kick him out of the hospital. We don't have the money to pay the bills."
Debbie had expected that answer and didn't seem surprised. "Then what? We still have to bring him home, right?"
Fiona really didn't want to talk about this…
Bring him home—and then what?
Lip and Ian could barely move and had to stay home for now.
Add on a Frank whose legs were basically useless, someone who would be effectively paralyzed for the foreseeable future.
How were they supposed to live like that?
But if they didn't bring him home…
Was she really going to let him freeze to death outside in the middle of winter?
Fiona felt like crying again. She swallowed it back. "Yeah."
"I'll go with you," Debbie said quickly, relieved now that Fiona had agreed.
Carl, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up next. "Me too."
"You're not going," Fiona said sharply without turning around. "You're going to school."
"But—" Debbie really wanted to go.
"No 'but'!" Fiona snapped, cutting her off.
Debbie froze, then stormed into the living room, angry and hurt.
Fiona saw it but didn't have the energy to comfort her. She let it go.
Just then, Veronica pushed open the back door and walked in.
She'd heard Fiona's raised voice—it wasn't quiet—but she didn't comment. She just said, "I figured your morning would be rough, so I came to help."
Hearing that—
Fiona was genuinely touched. She didn't refuse. "Thank you."
After breakfast was taken care of—
Fiona brought up picking Frank up at noon. "We'll still need Kevin's help. Can you talk to him for me?"
Veronica knew Kevin wouldn't be thrilled, but she nodded anyway. "Yeah, it's fine. That's just how he is—he's actually pretty easy to talk to."
"Thank you. Really," Fiona said again.
"Don't mention it. Oh—by the way, you can keep the two wheelchairs for now. No rush to return them. Your family's going to need them."
"What about your job… won't that cause trouble?"
Trouble?
Yeah, a little.
But nothing too serious.
Veronica shrugged. "It'll be fine. I can handle it."
—
Noon
Frank sat in a wheelchair while Kevin pushed him out of the hospital. The entire time, Frank cursed nonstop.
"You heartless doctors! Kicking a patient out just because I'm broke—just gonna let me die, huh?!"
"So poor people don't deserve to live?!"
"All you doctors and nurses—you'll all die miserable deaths!"
Even after getting into the car, Frank kept ranting.
Kevin said nothing. He didn't respond. He didn't want to.
After wasting the entire afternoon getting Frank back into the Gallagher house and saying a few words to Lip, Kevin fled the place like it was a black hole. Yawning nonstop, he headed straight to the Alibi.
Around 2 p.m.
Dexter walked into the Alibi and saw how exhausted Kevin looked. "What's wrong with you? You didn't sleep last night?"
Kevin let out a long yawn. "Don't even ask. A ton of crap went down."
"Oh? Like what?" Dexter prompted.
The bar was pretty empty.
And Kevin really needed to vent, so he started talking.
After listening—
Dexter felt a twinge of guilt.
Fiona really does have it worse…
He took a sip of his beer, thinking.
But it was only a little guilt.
It is what it is. Things get worse before they get better.
Nothing wrong with that.
Besides, if they don't suffer a bit, they'll just keep clinging to false hope—about the Gallagher family, about Frank. And that's not a good thing.