Chapter 11.

Sorry for the late update, chronic headaches and homework held me back.

Thanks so much for all the lovely reviews! They were great.

Special thanks to: scarlettsoldier, guest, soccergurl382, Spencee98, blue Wren, ItsMalecNotLeviosA, SincerelyAnOpportunist and georgalicious.

Disclaimer: I don't own Shameless.


Teenagers buzzed around the halls of the school, heading in various directions to spend their lunch time. Daniela made her way to her locker to put her stuff away, weaving through the bodies of fellow students. Ian and Mandy had most likely already done the same and were now waiting outside at their usual table.

As she put her books away, she briefly glanced to the side where she saw Lip walking, his back to her. She had been meaning to talk to him away from Ian for awhile now.

It had been just over a week since Monica left and Ian learned he wasn't Frank's son and ever since then, Lip had been trying to convince his brother to go looking for his real father. His insistence about the thing had been bringing her friend down more and more as he just wanted to forget about the whole ordeal.

Still, despite Ian's protests, Lip would continue to badger him more and more about it. This lead to even Daniela, who was originally on his side, to grow extremely annoyed herself.

Frustrated, Daniela took it upon herself to pull him away when she had the chance to talk to him about it and to tell him to back off.

Seeing this as her golden opportunity, she closed her locker and hurried after him. He walked ahead of her casually. Karen hadn't been at school the whole week so he was by himself, which was fine for Daniela.

Gaining speed, she grabbed him by the back of his jacket before tugging him into a nearby empty classroom, shutting the door behind her. Lip made a small noise of confusion pushing whoever had grabbed him against the wall in self-defense. This time it was Daniela's turn to make a noise of surprise.

Lip raised an eyebrow at the girl who had pulled him in here. Setting his hands on either side of her, he created a barrier.

"You know, if you wanted to get me alone. All you had to do was ask," smirked the boy in amusement. His eyes flicked over her face. Daniela's eyes were more so focused on his arms keeping her locked in and the lack of space between the two of them now.

A warm flush began to build up from her neck to her cheeks- much to the girl's dismay. Lip noted the now red tint to her face as his smirk grew even more.

Daniela's train of thought was completely foggy as she stood there, braced against the wall. She could feel her heart beating faster suddenly from the heated look in Lip's eyes. Her brain cursed itself for being such a teenager.

When the boy chuckled lightly, Daniela's mind was cleared as her proper intentions resurfaced.

Clearing her throat, she crossed her arms. Something that was not too easy as his arms were rather close to hers, causing her to bump them. Still, Lip kept them there, watching her with curiosity and humor as she composed herself. She had come in here to corner him, not the other way around. And she damn well wasn't going to let him get to her.

Brushing a strand of hair from out of her eyes, Daniela lifted her chin. Her face was serious now. All business. It kind of worried Lip.

"Did I do something wrong?" He frowned. He didn't think he had. Things had been going well with them- pretty great actually as far as he was concerned.

They were closer now and Lip would even consider her a good friend. She had been doing even better in Physics thanks to his tutoring, her grades rising to a C-plus. He didn't recall doing anything bad. The thought of doing something wrong to Daniela all of a sudden made him feel strange. Like he didn't want that.

Daniela saw the worry in his eyes and sighed.

"You need to stop pressuring Ian into finding his real dad."

Lip was taken back at first. This was what she wanted to talk to him about?

With a shake of his head, he wiped a hand over his face. This left an open space for Daniela to move free from the wall. But she never moved.

"I just want Ian to take advantage of this opportunity he's been given," reasoned Lip.

"And I get that Lip, I do. But it's Ian's decision. Not yours. And whatever Ian wants to do about this is his choice and not mine or yours. You just have to accept it."

Lip placed his hand back on the wall, enclosing Daniela once again. His head dropped slightly. "Ian's an idiot for not wanting to find him."

"And you're an asshole for forcing him to do something he doesn't want to," said Daniela. She tilted her head and pursed her lips. "I know you hate Frank and that you secretly wish it was you instead of Ian. But it wasn't. So stop trying to inflict your opinion on him."

Lip stayed silent, and Daniela knew he was finally listening. She was slightly surprised at how easy it had been, though.

Her eyes flickered around the room curious as to which room she had pulled them into. There were in one of the Science rooms. A paper-mache solar system decorated the room.

"Okay," nodded Lip, breaking the silence. Daniela looked back to him and let out a small sigh of satisfaction.

"Great!" She blinked at Lip, expecting him to move already. But he didn't. Instead, he stayed rooted to his spot, his thoughts seeming to travel away to something else.

The air around them slowly grew thick again as Daniela stared back at him. Lip's eyes were intense now, making her wonder what had caused this change. That flush she loathed made it's way back onto her cheeks, reddening them.

A small shudder passed through her when she felt one of his hands trail down from the wall to rest on her neck softly. She watched with baited breath as Lip's icy blue eyes lingered on his hand caressing her soft skin.

Daniela was scared to breathe, afraid that if she made- even the slightest noise- she would ruin the moment.

But why wouldn't she want to ruin the moment?

This haze overtaking the two teens was confusing her.

Lip's thumb rubbed up and down on her neck. He enjoyed this. Seeing her flushed. It was the first time he had ever seen her like this, and it triggered something in him. He was expecting it about as much as she was. However seeing her here, stood in between himself and the wall, blushing, flicked a switch in him.

He found that his thoughts often traveled to the girl in front of him as of late. He guessed it had started back when she had held his hand that night. But he knew that wasn't it. It had always sort of been around. He had just never bothered to acknowledge it.

But now he wanted to.

Daniela seemed to be contemplating the same thing herself as Lip's head inched closer to hers. She waited in slight trepidation and- what was that? Anticipation?

Mentally shaking that thought right out of her brain, Daniela took her bottom lip in-between her teeth nervously. This was completely alien to her. Not so much the emotions but more so who they were directed at.

Lip's face was even closer now- a breath away. His head tilted slightly as he moved his mouth closer to hers. Daniela's eyelashes fluttered and she found her eyes closing as her own head moved forward.

BRRING!

Daniela gasped softly as her eyes flickered open. Lip had paused, the sound of the bell breaking the moment.

Was it a moment? She questioned to herself.

Letting out a ragged breath, she looked back up at the planets hanging from the ceiling, zoning in on Jupiter. Lip pulled his arms back slowly and stepped back. Daniela felt like her lungs could finally work again.

Tucking more hair behind her ears, she gave the boy one more look before hurrying out of the classroom. He watched her go, a deep look on his face. As she made her way to her locker, she convinced herself that it was nothing and that her heart wasn't going crazy in her chest.

/

"How's Mickey?" Asked Daniela to Ian. Her friend glanced at her, halting his actions of throwing a ball up and catching it. He held it between his hands and nodded.

"He's as good as Mickey could be. Hates juvie, though. Some guy keeps stealing his Jell-O," Ian laughed quietly. "Threatened to stab him if he did it again."

"Hey, I would do the same if someone stole my Jell-O," argued Daniela raising her hands up in defense. "When's he get out?"

"A year. Couple months if he doesn't do anything stupid."

Daniela scoffed. "That'll be difficult." At her friend's raised eyebrow she winced. "Sorry. Still getting used to it I guess." Ian sighed and nodded his head.

"I know you are," he smiled gratefully at his friend who returned it.

Daniela suddenly reached out and took the softball from his hands before piffing it at his head. Ian let out a cry of pain which she soon shot down. The two wrestled with each other before Ian reached for the ball and threw it back at her, getting her chest. Daniela laughed as Fiona came into the room.

"Stop downloading porn!"

"Oops. Busted," said Lip in a distracted tone. Daniela glanced at him sitting on the laptop on the other side of the room.

Neither had said anything about what had happened the following day. She had been all for clearing the air but Lip seemed to think that wasn't necessary, acting as if nothing happened. Daniela didn't mind. It made things easier and less complicated for her. She had chalked what happened up to hormones. Biological.

Nothing to worry about.

"I need a sweater," stated Fiona, quickly opening the boy's drawers.

"Help yourself," shrugged Lip, going back to what he was doing.

"What are you guys doing?"

"Looking for homeboy's dad." Daniela sat up straight and glared at Lip.

When he had chosen to forget what had happened in the classroom, she didn't think he would throw her clearly asking to not pursue this, to the wind. He could feel her angry eyes on him as he glanced over at her for a second.

"He's looking for homeboy's dad," clarified Ian, clearly annoyed.

"Jesus, there are a lot of Gallaghers. Hey Fiona, do you know any of Frank's brother's names?"

"Shit. I have no idea. Oh, I think one of them is Wendell or something."

"I suppose I could just start calling them all," pondered Lip to himself. Daniela's jaw was clenched in annoyance at the boy.

"Why do you care anyway?" Asked Fiona.

"He just wishes it was him that wasn't Frank's kid," sighed Ian, throwing his ball up again and catching it. Lip didn't deny his brother's statement.

"Plus, if we find Ian's real dad, maybe he'll give us some cash. Or we could report his name to the State and collect child support."

"Then I'd have to hang out with the dude," said Ian with a cringe.

"What? He might be cool. He's gotta be better than Frank. Maybe he has a job, or he's sober, or he likes kids."

"That does sound marginally better than Frank," piped up Daniela, admittedly. "But it's up to Ian."

"Take the bus out to see Grammy," suggested Fiona as Debbie pulled her away. "She'll know."

Lip's mouth formed a straight line as he looked to his brother who looked just as enthusiastic as he did.

"Where's your Grammy?" Asked Daniela curiously.

"Prison," huffed Ian, slamming his head back onto the bed.

/

"Where are we going?" Frowned Daniela as herself, Ian and Lip walked down the snow covered streets.

"Karen's," answered Lip shortly. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, taking the lead. The girl rolled her eyes behind him and trudged along.

The thought of Karen joining in on their little adventure left a bad taste in her mouth. She didn't completely hate the girl, but she could definitely do without her presence.

As they neared the house, Daniela slowed down. Lip walked up to knock on the door. Sheila quickly welcomed them in, handing them plastic bags for their shoes. Daniela took hers with a small thanks before placing her shoes in them. Lip went to find Karen leaving Ian and Daniela with Sheila.

The woman stood there awkwardly as the two teens looked around. She quickly urged them to sit and asked if they wanted anything to drink- which they both turned down politely.

Daniela could sense the tension Ian felt. Given the circumstances of their last visit, she didn't blame him.

Sheila came and sat with them as they waited patiently for Lip and Karen to return. The boy eventually did, but not with Karen. Daniela raised an eyebrow at his obvious anger as he quickly said goodbye to Sheila and left. The two remaining teens did the same and grabbed their shoes.

When they stepped outside, Lip was tapping his foot impatiently. He pulled out another cigarette to smoke and as soon as the others had their shoes on, took off to the train. Ian and Daniela shared a look before both shrugged and followed.

/

Daniela walked beside Ian and pulled her coat tighter around her to get rid of the cold. They were on their way to the bus-stop and Lip still hadn't spoken much since they had left Karen's.

She figured he was just silently brewing in his anger, something she was grateful for. She could do without having to listen to his and Karen's relationship issues.

Daniela ignored Lip's silent anger and stuck to talking with Ian. They had been talking Mickey again and juvie when the conversation drifted to her father.

"I was going to go and see him tomorrow," she said sounding somewhat unsure. "You know, to talk things over."

Ian glanced sideways at her and bobbed his head. "Sounds like it will be good for you. You can get everything off your chest and vice versa, I guess."

"Yeah. Yeah, it should be good."

Lip, who had been listening silently in front of them, slowed down so they could catch up. Casting a quick look at the girl, he turned to his brother.

"Aren't you just a little curious to find out who he is?" He asked persistently. Ian's eyes rolled skyward as he groaned lowly. Once again, they were back to this.

"No," stated Ian bluntly.

"But why? He could be any one of these guys," Lip gestured to the men walking past all around them. Daniela surveyed them all. None stood out as someone who could be Ian's dad.

With a smirk, her friend gestured to a man dressed up in drag passed out against a wall. "Oh yeah? Like that one right there?"

"Totally," laughed Lip along with Daniela.

"Look, he's gonna be a douchebag no matter what."

"You don't know that for sure," she replied with a shrug. "Frank could be the worst of the bunch."

"He's a Gallagher," droned Ian.

"Well, maybe he'll take you to a game, or kick in some scratch for college, or give a kidney or hey! Maybe even a birthday card once a year." Lip continued his efforts to convince his brother to take it into more consideration as all three of them took a seat at the bus-stop.

"Do we know any cool dads?" Frowned Ian, tone laced with doubt.

"Well, mines in prison so I guess that rules me out," sighed Daniela, turning her attention to the cars driving past.

"Scotty Houston's father," answered his brother.

"Isn't he a registered sex offender?" She questioned curiously. Lip's face dropped as he remembered the same thing.

"Oh. Yeah."

Ian looked at the both of them, not feeling any better, and took a deep sigh.

/

Daniela shuffled into the visiting room behind the two boys. They stood alongside the wall with a guard as two others bought in the woman that was Ian and Lip's Grandmother. The woman seemed to easily elicit a vibe of power and control as she sat down on the other side of the glass.

"Hey Grammy," greeted Lip as he took his own seat. Grammy looked at the three of them with a deep frown.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Grams, it's us. Lip and Ian, Frank's sons."

"Your grandsons?" Offered Ian, leaning forward. Recognition filled her eyes before smiling wide.

"Oh my goodness. Would you look at you two? I have never seen apple and spice looking so nice, ha!" Grammy's eyes flicked to Daniela curiously. "You fucking one of my grandsons?"

"No!" Denied Daniela quickly with wide eyes. "No, no. I'm just a friend." Grammy raised an eyebrow.

"Just a friend?"

"Yes," nodded the girl, smiling slightly.

Grammy hummed to herself, not quite believing her. Lip subtly glanced behind him at Daniela, an image of her in that classroom flitting into his head. Grammy didn't miss it and laughed quietly to herself.

"How's it going in there?" He asked, giving her his attention once more.

"Well the food's not so great, but the pussy's pretty good. Never thought I'd be the type." The two boys looked down at their hands awkwardly. Daniela held back a snicker. "Oh, this dump's not too bad. I can get blow anytime I like."

"Sounds alright," nodded Lip.

"Yeah, the only thing that sucks is that they've got me cleaning toilets. I want to be on the kitchen crew but they won't let me near the place. One meth-lab explosion and this is what I get," ranted Grammy.

"Well yeah, it's probably the two college students that died in the fire, Grams." The woman gave the two boys a look and changed the subject.

Daniela sat back and listened as the two of them- well, mainly Lip- explained that they were looking for the names of Frank's brothers. After negotiating a carton of cigarettes a week, Grammy spilled the names before being taken back to her cell.

"And you tell Jerry that if he doesn't pay me back that 5 grand he stole, I'm gonna send my ex-husband over to gouge his eyes out with a grapefruit spoon!"

"What an interesting woman," noted Daniela from her spot. The brothers looked at her blankly before getting up to leave.

/

Later that night after Daniela had gone home for a hot shower, she made her way to the Gallagher house. Walking in, she saw that they had moved the dining table into the lounge.

"Carl, hey! We're decorating, not eating," scolded Fiona. The teen laughed at the sight of Carl squeezing a whole bag of icing into his mouth.

"Ooh, decorating! Sounds fun. What's it for?" She asked, taking a nearby seat.

"They're cupcakes for the St. Patrick's Day party at my school," answered Debbie as she piped white frosting onto one.

Daniela raised an eyebrow. "Try saying that five times really fast."

She looked over at Carl who had now moved onto eating the frosting off of the already-decorated cupcakes. "Great decoration skills, Carl. What look are you going for there?"

"Uh, I think it's a scrotum," laughed Lip. He was currently flipping through a phonebook. Daniela gestured with her chin towards it.

"What are you doing there?"

"Going through and looking for a Clayton and Jerry Gallagher."

"Yeah, he's gotten even more enthusiastic about it now that he knows their names," said Ian, grabbing a beer and sitting next to his friend. She scoffed and rolled her eyes. Lip looked ready to start up another spiel about the whole thing but the two stopped him before he could.

"Here, eat a cupcake."

Daniela shoved him towards his face, managing to get some frosting on his nose. Lip looked up from the phonebook to give her a half-hearted glare. She, on the other hand, couldn't help the corners of her mouth twitching up at the sight.

"Whoops," she grinned, sounding anything less than apologetic.

Her smile dropped when Lip shoved his own cupcake into his face. He laughed at her shocked expression. He felt something stir inside of him as he watched her scrape off the icing with a finger before popping it into her mouth. It intensified when she even let out a short moan at the taste.

"I can see why you're eating all of this now," she said, directing her eyes to Carl. The boy, along with Ian and Debbie, sat staring at her and Lip with raised eyebrows. Daniela frowned and started wiping at her face. "What? Is there still some on my face?"

"Are you two dating?" Asked Debbie curiously, out of nowhere.

"No!" Denied Lip and Daniela at the same time.

Ian, who had been watching the two, took a swig of his beer and gestured to his two younger siblings sitting at the table. "Do you want us to leave?"

"What? No," scoffed Daniela as she leaned back and crossed her arms. "Why would you need to?" Her friend replied with a simple knowing look that managed to make her avert her eyes.

Lip picked up a cupcake and took a bite of it. "It's no big deal. We're just friends."

"Yeah!" Agreed the girl quickly.

/

It was a couple hours later that Debbie managed to finish her cupcakes. Daniela had offered to help out since her and Lip destroyed some and Carl was just terrible at decorating. As she washed up, Debbie yawned and excused herself.

"Night, Debs."

"Night, El. Thanks again." The young girl sluggishly worked her way up the stairs.

Daniela continued washing up in a content silence. As she scrubbed icing off a bowl, she heard the sound of footsteps descending the stairs. She cast a quick look over her shoulder and smiled slightly at Lip.

His hair was in slight disarray as Daniela noticed the look of deep thought that marred his features.

Turning back to the sink, she continued scrubbing whilst listening to him open the fridge and the clink of a beer bottle being taken out. He leaned against the counter, popping the top off and taking a swig.

Daniela felt his eyes trained on her and turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Can I help you?" Lip continued to stare, making her feel slightly uncomfortable. It was more inquisitive than heated. Daniela wondered whether or not this pleased her.

"You're a girl," he said finally. The girl blew an exasperated breath and turned to face him fully.

She placed a wet hand on her cocked out hip. "Keen observation, Phillip." He shook his head and chewed on the inside of his lip, something Daniela noted curiously. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's just. Things have been a bit difficult with Karen," explained Lip and she had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. No, she couldn't do that. They were friends- or whatever- now and that meant having to put up with his relationship issues, no matter how much she didn't want to.

Sighing a little, Daniela leaned against the sink and crossed her arms, giving Lip her full attention. "I'm assuming you want to talk about it?"

He nodded at her in response. "Basically her dad called her a whore at that Purity Ball in front of everyone which pissed her off. Now she has this huge nose piercing and she's trashing her dad's room and acting different."

"When I went to talk to her, she basically shut me out. I mean, I did say she was a bit of a whore- but I don't care about that. I like that about her! And she's pissed at her dad and now me and I just wanna fix it but I don't know how." Lip ended his spiel with a defeated shrug of his shoulders.

Daniela pursed her lips in thought. "Karen's just going through something right now and this new attitude that you're talking about sounds like her way of dealing with things. She's pissed at her dad, and rightfully so. But you've gotta let her get it all out of her system. If she doesn't and you keep trying to help, she'll just keep pushing you out."

"I'd also refrain from calling her a whore anymore. Probably wasn't the best thing you could've said," she suggested before tilting her head. "Even if it is true."

Lip listened, bopping his head along. He took another drink of beer before gesturing towards the sink with it.

"You don't have to do that you know? Me and Ian can do it tomorrow." Daniela shrugged and turned back to the cooling water.

"I don't mind. Besides, I helped out with the cupcakes and my mother would throw a fit if I didn't," she joked. Lip chuckled to himself and shook his head.

"There you go again," he said in exasperation, moving closer. The girl eyed him and frowned.

"What?" Rotating slightly, she saw Lip step behind her. He stared down at her, a small smile on his face.

"Helping. You're always helping," he answered lowly. His eyes trailed over her face. From her hair to her eyes, to her nose.

Finally, he settled upon her lips. Daniela swallowed, feeling her stomach fill up with that unfamiliarity she had been experiencing more and more around him lately. Her own gaze washed over his neck and chest, resting on his collarbone. She wasn't much shorter than him, but in that moment she felt tiny.

Clearing her throat, she managed to pull her eyes away to settle on a dishcloth beside the sink. Reaching for it, she threw it at his chest and turned back to the sink.

"I wash, you dry," she said, avoiding further eye contact. Lip let out a breath and nodded dutifully. He began drying and soon enough, the two were done.

After the last dish was put away, Daniela mumbled a quick goodbye before grabbing her things and going.


Building some momentum- finally! This was originally going to be a double episode but I decided against it so I could get this out faster. Technically, this is only half of Episode 11.

Review and let me know what you thought!

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