Rae was scribbling down notes at record speed, Nikki curled up awkwardly in her lap, her textbook propped against the wall, as Lip approached her. He studied her for a moment, admiring her determination. Rae felt eyes on her and glanced up, carefully shifting the sleeping toddler onto the sweatshirt she had lying beside her.

"Thanks," she said as he handed her the recorder. She dug deeply into her pocket, pulling out a handful of small bills and change. After quickly counting out the bills, she handed him the twenty dollars she promised. "I appreciate it."
"All I did was hit a button," Lip shrugged.
"Still," Rae smiled. "Thanks for the help, Phillip."
"Lip," he corrected her. "Don't you live on my street?"
"Yeah, like four houses down," Rae shrugged. "Lived there the last ten years."
"Why haven't I ever seen you before?" he asked. Something about her intrigued him. He couldn't put his finger on it.
"You raise six kids and tell me you have time to socialize," Rae said, though her tone was not bitter. She never once resented the kids. She might have had to step up to the mom role a lot younger than most, but she never once regretted her decision to do so.
"Yeah, yeah, makes sense," Lip deadpanned. He felt like he was prying and he hadn't meant to. "See ya around."

Rae watched as he turned to walk away. She wanted to stop him, but she wasn't sure if she should. Against her better judgement, she ran after him, one eye still locked on her sleeping sister.

"Wait up!"

Lip turned to look at her, not sure what she wanted.

"Let me give you my number, just in case you want to get together and study or something," she said hesitantly.
"Yeah, yeah, okay," Lip sputtered. He hadn't expected her to be so bold. She scribbled her number down before handing it to him, her eyes glistening against the florescent hallway lights.
"See you around, Lip," she said, her smile making his heart skip a beat.

She walked back to where her books and sister were sprawled on the floor and began picking them up. Without another thought, Lip turned and walked away. Hours later, when he was boning Helene', he found himself thinking about the quiet, yet fiery woman he'd met earlier.


It was just after Rae's last class, she had a very sleepy toddler on her hip as she shoved her books into her bag for the last time that day. It was nearly six and all she wanted was to hop the L and get home in time to get a couple hours of sleep before she had to make it to her midnight shift at the club. She was about to pass through the hallway that led to the cafeteria when she saw her younger brothers and sister running towards her, a frantic look on their faces.

"What are you doing here?" she exclaimed, shifting her weight so she could embrace a teary eyed Jayson. "How'd you get here?"
"Mitch brought us," Luke said breathlessly. "He's in the van with Beth. Rick hurt Lizzy," he continued, trying to catch his breath. "He showed up at the school and hurt her!"
"Okay, take your sister, I'll be there in five minutes," Rae said sternly. "Go on, tell Mitch I won't be long."
"Where are you going?" Luke demanded.
"I need someone to get this paper in for me," she said quickly. She always passed Lip on her way out – he was normally leaving his last class around the same time.

Once she was sure her brother could handle the youngest of the pack, she ran down the hallway, nearly colliding with Lip in the process.

"Looks like I keep racking up the favors today," she muttered breathlessly, her hands digging for the essay she had spent the better part of the day writing. "Can you turn this in for me? Professor O'Bryan, psychology building," she huffed.
"Yeah, yeah, sure," he nodded, confused. He knew she had to pass that building to get to the train station. "You okay?"
"You know how it is," she sighed. He wasn't a stranger to the hard life. She knew his family wasn't a cookie cutter, white picket fence, all American family either. They lived only a handful of houses apart. They both had been witness to the other's unfortunate situations in the past. "If I don't make it to lit tomorrow, can I hunt you down for your notes?"
"Yeah, okay," he said, still staring at her with an expression she couldn't quite place. He wanted to ask her if she needed his help, but something told him the fiery brunette had it under control.

She ran back the way she came, her hair flying behind her like a cape. Lip watched as she disappeared in the sea of students, before glancing down at the essay in his hand. He didn't know she was taking Psych.

Rae made it outside in record time, locating the beaten up van with ease. Mitch and Rae shared the van, often using it to carpool the kids to and from school. She wasn't the least bit surprised that one of the Milkovich boys got it running again. Terry was an awful father, but he taught his boys to be useful.

"How bad?" she asked breathlessly as she slid into the passenger seat. Beth was staring blankly ahead while Al was clinging to Luke, sobbing bitterly. "Mitchel, how bad?"
"Really bad, Rae, really bad," he said, his voice hitching. "We…we need to go."

Rae cursed under her breath, then nudged her brother. "Switch."

Mitch bobbed his head, shoving the door open, his hands trembling. After a moment to get situated, Rae started the van, her mind racing a mile a minute. It took a lot to shake Mitch up, a lot to make him freeze like that. She could only imagine what she was driving into.

From across the lot, Lip watched as Rae traded seats with her brother, who looked like he'd seen a ghost. He couldn't help but wonder what was going on. He made the decision then that later, he would text Rae to find out if she was okay. He didn't know why, but he felt like that was something he should do.

Rae tore out of the parking lot, not paying any mind to the line of cars she cut off. Her tires screeched as she crossed the lines, pulling onto the road with little problem. It would take nearly an hour to reach the hospital if Rae drove the speed limit. She had zero intentions of that – her hope was the make it there in under a half hour. And that she did. When they made their way into the waiting room, Rae immediately knew something was very, very wrong. Their social worker, an angry woman with a bitter glare, was waiting for them, her arms crossed in front of her chest, her face set. Rae felt herself pull the youngest four closer to her. She'd been down that road before. She had zero intentions of letting any of those kids go again, no matter how bad things got.

"Took you long enough," she said in the same monotone voice she used the last time the family had seen her. "Care to tell me what the hell happened?"