A Different Kind Of Dysfunction - A Shameless Fanfiction (Book One)

The envelope came in the mail — thick, official, with Rebecca Sloan’s return address printed neatly in the corner.

Adeline didn’t hide it.

She left it on the kitchen table.

Because it was time.

And Sylvia needed to know.

---

She came home late, smelling like smoke and gin, makeup smudged under her eyes like warpaint.

Everyone else had cleared the room.

Except Adeline.

Sitting at the table, hands folded, waiting.

Sylvia clocked the envelope the second she walked in.

Her face changed instantly — suspicion twisting into recognition, then into something dark and sharp.

“What the hell is this?”

Adeline didn’t flinch. “Read it.”

Sylvia snatched it, tore the seal open, skimmed the first few lines.

Then froze.

Her eyes shot up.

“You’re trying to take them from me?”

“I’m protecting them.”

“You bitch.”

Adeline stood up slowly.

“You gave up your right to call yourself their mother the day you stopped showing up sober.”

Sylvia slammed the paper on the table.

“You think some lawyer’s gonna fix your little power trip?”

“This isn’t about power.”

“The hell it isn’t,” she spat. “You’ve always thought you were better than me.”

Adeline stared at her. “No. I just knew I had to be.”

---

Sylvia circled the table like she might strike, eyes wild.

“You want them?” she snarled. “Take them. Take their noise and their problems and their endless fucking need. See how long you last before you come crawling back to me.”

“I’ve already outlasted you,” Adeline said.

Sylvia flinched — just for a second.

Then she smiled.

Cruel. Cold.

“They’ll hate you for this,” she said. “Eventually. You think you’re the hero, but you’re just a guard dog. Keeping them in. Making them dependent. That’s not love.”

“No,” Adeline said, voice steady. “But feeding them is. Showing up is. Not disappearing for days is.”

“They’re mine.”

“Not anymore.”

---

That’s when it broke.

Sylvia lunged.

Not with a slap or a punch — but with her words.

“You think your dad would be proud of you?”

Adeline’s breath hitched.

“You think he wanted this for you? A house full of brats, no future, pretending you're not just like me?”

She stepped closer.

“You’re nothing, Addy. Just a louder, meaner version of me.”

Adeline didn’t speak.

Didn’t cry.

Didn’t move.

She let the silence sit.

And then, calmly:

“You’re wrong.”

---

Sophie came in first — standing behind Adeline like a shadow.

Then Rory. Then Leah.

Tessa and Alyssa stood in the hallway, holding hands.

They didn’t speak.

They didn’t have to.

Sylvia turned slowly, seeing all of them.

All those eyes.

And not one of them held fear anymore.

Only clarity.

Only choice.

“You turned them against me,” she whispered.

“No,” Adeline said. “You did that all by yourself.”

---

Sylvia backed up, as if the weight of it all finally landed.

Her face crumbled, rage slipping into something more pathetic.

“You’ll regret this,” she whispered.

Adeline tilted her head. “Then leave before we regret letting you stay this long.”

Sylvia stared at them.

Tried to summon another weapon.

But there was nothing left in her.

No control.

No authority.

No love.

So she turned.

Walked out the door.

Didn’t slam it.

Didn’t look back.

---

The apartment was silent.

Not scared.

Not tense.

Just… quiet.

Rory let out a long breath.

Sophie dropped into a chair.

Leah started crying — softly, like she didn’t mean to.

Tessa hugged Alyssa tight.

And Adeline?

She just stood there.

Still. Solid.

For now.

[Word count: ~576 words]