Tessa glanced at herself in the rearview mirror. Her makeup was a little heavier than normal, which wasn't saying much considering she rarely wore makeup. Her hair was down and she had used her flat iron to make it look nice. After deciding she looked decent enough she got out of her car and walked into the club.

People were setting up for that night and she spotted Meg almost immediately. Fiona had said to look for the pregnant blonde in a pantsuit.

"Hi, Meg?" Tessa asked.

The blonde turned to look at whoever had called her name, annoyance on her face. "Yes?" She asked.

"I'm Tessa. I'm a friend of Fiona's and she mentioned you were looking for some waitresses."

Meg turned to fully glance Tessa over. "You got experience? I don't have the time to train someone."

She nodded and handed Meg her resume. "More than I'd like to admit." She had been working in that diner for way too long.

The blonde glanced over the resume and nodded her head in approval. "Look, I don't really have time to screw around. We'll give you a night to see how you are. You're pretty and the guys here like that. Talk to Fiona about hair and makeup and make sure you get yourself a push-up bra."

Tessa raised an eyebrow and tried her hardest not to shoot some sassy comment at Meg. She glanced down at her breasts and then back up at Meg, nodding silently. Her boobs weren't small, but she was only rocking a B cup.

"I'll put you on the schedule for tomorrow night," Meg said. She turned back around and continued to work on whatever she had been working on before Tessa had interrupted her.

She supposed that was the end of the conversation. Tessa turned to leave and walked out of the building. Fiona hadn't been kidding when she had told Tessa that Meg was blunt and had zero patience. But at least she had a shot at making this a permanent thing. Her only issue was getting out of work tomorrow night. Meg had left no room for compromising on when Tessa would work so she hadn't had the guts to tell her she was supposed to work at her other job tomorrow night.

Walking out of the club she pulled her phone out and called Fiona. "Hey!" She said. "So I got on the schedule at the club for tomorrow night."

"That's great!" Fiona said. "But hey sorry I gotta go. V's helping me get this skeevy grocery store manager asking for a hummer on tape. I'll call you later."

Tessa pulled the phone away from her ear to see that Fiona had hung up on her. What the hell had she said? She would definitely have to get the story about that later. Sighing she went to call Lip but his phone just rang and rang and she frowned. He wasn't working or anything and he didn't have school. He almost always answered his phone.

Sticking her phone back into her pocket she walked towards her car and got in. Sighing, Tessa started her car and headed towards the Gallagher household, knowing that at least Debbie would be around.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Debbie hadn't been around and Tessa had gone home for the rest of the day. Later on, Fiona had filled her in on what had happened at the grocery store, and what had happened with Kev's old wife showing up. Tessa was glad she hadn't been around.

The next day she showed up to say goodbye to Carl before he took off for camp for a week.

Walking through the back door she saw Frank feeding a baby that she was pretty sure belonged to Karen.

"Carl, what are you doing?" She asked. She noticed he had a stapler and sheets in his hand.

"Making a sleeping bag."

"Okay," Tessa said slowly. She walked around the table and sat beside Carl and watched as he made the sleeping bag. She knew she should probably stop him but found that she didn't have the energy.

She heard footsteps coming down the stairs and Ian, Fiona and Jimmy all appeared.

"You all packed up?" Ian asked.

"Yup!" Carl said.

"What's Hymie doing here?" Fiona asked, shooting Frank an odd look.

"I'm baby-sitting."

"Oh, is Sheila popping pills again?" Ian asked.

Frank scoffed. "Sheila happens to think very highly of my ability to raise bright, independent children."

Tessa had to bite her cheek to keep herself from laughing at the ludicrous thought.

"You're not leaving Hymie here, Frank," Fiona said. "Debbie can't take care of a special needs kid on top of day care."

"Challenges foster growth! You can't prevent Debbie from an opportunity to grow," Frank tried.

"Not happening," Fiona deadpanned. She suddenly saw what Carl was doing and her eyes widened. "Carl, what are you doing?" She asked.

"Making a sleeping bag," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"These are Lip's sheets!" Fiona said.

"Not anymore," Carl scoffed.

"Alright. Take my ROTC sleeping bag, huh?" Ian offered.

"Really?" Carl asked, excitement evident on his face.

"Yeah. I'll grab it from upstairs." Ian disappeared upstairs again.

Fiona turned to her dad. "Why couldn't you win a raffle for a camp when I was little, Frank?"

"Fortune dispenses randomly."

"I hated camp," Jimmy said.

"Don't listen to Jamie, Carl," Frank said.

"Jimmy," Jimmy corrected.

Fiona sighed and offered Tessa a smile before grabbing the keys off the washer. "You okay holding down the fort with Debbie's daycare insanity starting up again?" Fiona asked Jimmy.

"Jamie's got it. Jamie is all over it," Jimmy joked.

Fiona turned to Carl. "Okay little man. See you in a week."

Carl rushed and hugged his sister. "I just want to say thanks for being a great sister. I may have never said that, but now I did."

Tessa had made her way into the living room and smiled at the kind words Carl had said to Fiona. She was fairly certain that she had never heard Carl say anything nice like that since she had known him.

"You okay Carl?" Fiona asked.

"Yeah," he said, pulling out of her hug and sitting down on the couch.

"Okay," Fiona said, turning back to Jimmy. "I left a list of stuff we need at the store. You kicking in for squirrel fund this month?"

"Absolutely," he said. "Yeah. I'm living here. Got to do my part."

"Don't have to," Fiona pointed out.

"Want. Want to." Jimmy smiled and kissed Fiona.

"Debbie!" Fiona screamed. "Day care is starting!"

Tessa sat down on the couch next to Carl and a moment later Ian came downstairs with his sleeping bag.

"Wow! Thanks Ian," Carl said.

"I got a couple more things for camp too. Bug spray and Swiss army knife. For comfort and convenience, not as weapons," Ian explained, making sure to put emphasis on that last part.

"Awesome," Carl said with a grin.

Ian leaned forward and kissed Carl on the head. "See you in a week, pal."

Carl stood. "Dad we should go!" He yelled out.

Tessa stood and turned to Carl. "Think I could get a hug?"

"I suppose," Carl said with a sigh but she noticed the smile on his face.

She embraced him in a hug and dropped a kiss on the top of his head like Ian had done only a moment ago. "Don't go blowing anything up without me, okay?" She asked, pulling away and looking at him.

Carl grinned and nodded. "Okay," he agreed.

Carl and Frank left and Tessa went upstairs to find Ian.

"Have you seen Lip?" She asked. She had only gotten a text from him the other day.

He shook his head. "No, sorry."

She pulled out her phone and tried calling him again. This time he actually answered.

"Hey," she greeted. "I'm at your house. Where are you?" she asked.

"Hanging with some friends. I was thinking we could hang out at your place tonight. Just the two of us?" He suggested.

Tessa bit her lip and shook her head. "Sorry I can't. I have to work at that club tonight and it's my tryout for the job," she explained. "I mean, you can stay there but –."

"Whatever." Tessa found herself being cut off by Lip and she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Lip!" She yelled. But she heard nothing and realized he had hung up on her.

"What?" Ian asked.

"He hung up on me." She frowned. "Basically he was pissed because I wouldn't be around tonight to hook up with him."

Ian sighed and shook his head. "Sorry about him."

Tessa shrugged, the frown still on her face. "Not your fault. I just don't want him to second-guess this whole thing. Or resent me."

"He won't resent you," Ian said.

"You don't know that," she said.

Ian pursed his lips and she knew that she had made a point.

Tessa rose from her spot on Ian's bed. "I should go."

"You don't have to," he said.

"I know. But I should get some rest before tonight." Shit. She realized she hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Fiona about the club and since she was working at the grocery store today it was clear she wouldn't be working at the club tonight. She supposed she would have to figure it out herself. Then again, that's what Tessa had been doing for her entire life.

"Good luck," Ian said. He gave her a hug before Tessa left the house, hoping that tonight would go well so that she could leave her job at the diner.

A:N/ I know this one is shorter but I hit a funk when I wrote this chapter. Just so everyone knows, the storyline with Lip and Blake (the pedophile teacher) did NOT happen in this story. I thought about it but decided against it. Please review!