As soon as he opened the door, a blast of icy wind hit him.
The temperature difference made Shane shiver.
He pulled his coat tighter, adjusted Liam's carrier straps, and stepped out onto the sidewalk.
As he walked, he tried to piece together more details from his memory.
Lip was a senior (12th grade), Ian was a junior (11th grade), Debbie was 11, Carl was 9, Fiona was 21... The timeline was definitely right at the start of Season 1.
Before he knew it, Shane had walked out of the residential area and arrived at a slightly busier commercial strip on the South Side.
The scenery was full of "local flavor."
Homeless people huddled under ragged blankets in alleyways. Groups of thugs gathered in wind-sheltered corners, talking in hushed tones... seriously, why were they trying to look tough in this freezing weather?
Then there were the "hardcore" drunks, passed out on the sidewalk clutching bottles, oblivious to the biting wind.
Shane, on the other hand, was attracting a lot of attention. His handsome mixed-race features, combined with the baby strapped to his chest, drew the eyes of passing women.
Their stares were bold and direct, like they wanted to eat him alive.
It made him a little uncomfortable, so he picked up the pace toward the supermarket.
His residual memories told him this kind of attention was normal for this body.
Another vague memory surfaced... apparently, he'd had a girlfriend since eighth grade. They were still together, but he couldn't quite remember her name or face at the moment.
Walking and thinking, about twenty minutes later, Shane arrived at a decent-sized supermarket for the area:
Pete's Fresh Market.
"Decent-sized" meaning it was about as big as a small-town grocery store back .
Shane walked in with Liam. He couldn't go crazy with the shopping, but he could pick up some real food to make dinner a little better.
He went to the fresh food section and carefully selected some vegetables, a few pounds of pork, and a few boxes of pasta. He didn't dare buy too much.
He was alone and outnumbered. If he bought too much, he'd just be a target for muggers or aggressive panhandlers.
In the South Side, that was an everyday occurrence.
He had to keep the load light enough that if he did get jumped, he could either run or fight without being weighed down.
passing the clothing section, Shane remembered that Ian almost never wore new clothes—he always got Lip's hand-me-downs.
Carl and Debbie weren't much better; they'd been wearing the same outfits for years.
Shane made a mental note: Once I find a good excuse, I'll either let them pick out their own clothes or just order stuff for them off Temu.
He finished shopping quickly and headed home with the groceries.
On the way back, maybe it was because a teenager carrying a baby looked pathetic, or maybe his slightly buff build looked like trouble—either way, nobody messed with him. He got home safe.
As soon as he walked in and put the bags down, Liam let out a wail. "Waaah!"
Shane leaned in. A foul smell wafted up from the diaper, hitting his nose hard enough to make his eyes water.
"Okay, okay, I get it. You blew it out, huh?" Shane sighed.
After merging with the original Shane's constitution, his senses were sharper. Smelling this diaper was practically torture.
Holding his breath, he clumsily cleaned Liam up, wiped him down, and put on a fresh diaper.
He mixed a bottle of formula and stuck it in the kid's hands. Finally, peace returned.
Task complete, Shane collapsed onto the sofa and let out a long breath.
After a short rest, he took out the new wallet. He neatly folded the hundred-dollar bills he'd withdrawn from the system, added some smaller bills, and zipped it up.
He put exactly $888 inside. Triple eights for good luck. Fa fa fa.
"Okay, perfect."
Shane weighed the wallet in his hand and thought:
"If Fiona or Lip asks why I didn't turn it in... I'll say I kept it as a 'finder's fee.' Or maybe just say I was so panicked I only saw the cash and didn't think about it."
Before he knew it, it was noon.
Shane's stomach started growling. Liam blinked his big eyes at him, silently demanding lunch too.
"Alright, alright. Food time."
He opened the fridge. Aside from the few things he just bought, it was empty. Standard Gallagher poverty mode.
He really didn't want to eat that dry oatmeal again. So, he just bought a few cartons of eggs, a slab of fresh meat, and a bag of rice directly from the Temu system.
Shane got to work. He made a simple stir-fry of shredded pork and eggs and steamed a pot of rice.
As the wok sizzled, the aroma of home cooking began to fill the Gallagher kitchen. It made his mouth water.
He fed Liam his milk first, then had a satisfying meal himself. After washing the dishes, the post-meal sleepiness hit him.
"Full and happy. Time for a nap."
He yawned, played with Liam a bit more to ensure no immediate "emissions" were imminent, and planned to take the kid down to the basement for a nice afternoon nap.
Just as Shane picked Liam up and turned toward the basement door—
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Urgent knocking at the front door.
"Huh? Who comes to the Gallagher house in the middle of the day?"
Shane went on alert.
He put Liam back on the sofa, scanned the room, grabbed the claw hammer he'd used earlier, and held it in his right hand behind his back.
Only then did he carefully approach the door and crack it open a sliver.
Shane peered out.
It was a teenage girl.
The first thing he saw was a fair, sweet face framed by long blonde hair that seemed to glow in the thin winter sunlight.
It was Karen Jackson.
The famous "White Moonlight" (first love/ideal girl) of Shameless.
"What is she doing here?"
Shane wondered. But before he could ask, Karen looked at the dazed Shane with annoyance.
She pushed hard against the door, straining the chain, then shoved her way inside.
"What is wrong with you? You skipped school all morning and didn't even text me? Lip said you were sick. I would have come over earlier if I knew!"
Karen started complaining the moment she got in. Her tone was intimate, mixed with a girlfriend's entitlement.
Shane looked at her. Before the "What the f" could fully form in his brain, a memory unlocked.
Holy sht!
Karen... Karen is my girlfriend?!
The memories flooded in. It started with a cliché "hero saves the beauty" moment (original Shane intervened when some thugs were harassing her).
Combine that with Shane's handsome mixed-race face and his utter devotion, and Karen had latched onto him. They'd been together since then.
Karen was a grade below him.
As for their "physical relationship," the memories showed that because this world's Shane had a bit of Eastern conservatism (or maybe he was just chicken), they hadn't gone all the way yet. But they'd done everything else.
"Wait a minute!"
Shane thought about Karen's reputation in the show—the "village bicycle" attributes. And that classic scene: "Hey, why is Karen's number written on the bathroom stall..."
"Don't tell me... Ugh, do I have a green hat (cuckold) hovering over my head? But wait... maybe she hasn't turned into that Karen yet?"
Shane's feelings were complicated. A mix of worry, relief, and... let's be honest... a certain undeniable excitement.
Does this mean... I might actually be the first?