Disclaimer: I don't own Shameless.

A/N1: I know that it's after Thanksgiving, but I started this well before it. It was my intention to have this story written in time for turkey day, but RL got in the way. I guess you can consider it a little belated Christmas gift.

A/N2: This is another one shot in my "Self Preservation" universe. It's not critical for you to read it but this story will probably make a lot more sense if you did. What's in italics takes place during a flashback. And of course there will be swearing, this is Shameless after all.

A Typical Gallagher Thanksgiving….with a Twist

Mickey blows air into his hands in a vain attempt to warm up as he walks into the Kash and Grab.

"You're late." Linda admonishes from behind the register.

Mickey rolls his eyes. "I had a bit of a late start," he explains.

Linda raises her eyebrows. "Late start? It's almost two, and Ian's at school. His sister will have his balls if he misses any more after…." She then stops questioning why the ex-con is late, probably because she really doesn't give a shit why.

"Well, you're here now so I can leave. I have to take the baby to the doctor's. Stock the chips." Linda says as she hands him a box of Pringles. Sour cream and onion. The bitch is fucking with him. It seems like the store is always running out of barbecue. But, there is always a steady supply of every other kind of Pringles.

Mickey gives her a half assed salute as he takes the box from her. When the door closes he takes a box of Pringles from the box. Fuck her. He's gonna eat them, just out of spite. The ex-con grabs a Mountain Dew from the cooler and as he's about to sit down behind the counter the bell over the door dings and he looks up to see Debbie walking in. "Hey, kid. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?"

She frowns at him. "Half a day. Budget cuts."

Shouldn't she be happy she's not in school? Then why the hell does she have that pissy look on her face? Fucking Gallagher's. Mickey rubs his lip with his thumb, "So let me get this straight. Your brother is out of school, and he's not here. He leaves me at this shithole, while he's probably drinking with Lip."

"He's not drinking with Lip, Mickey." Debbie says with a roll of his eyes.

"Let me change that. He's probably getting high with Lip." Mickey says as he pops a chip into his mouth.

"He's staying after school to catch up on his school work," Debbie says quietly as she picks through the box of Skittles that's on the counter.

And Mickey immediately feels like shit for getting all pissy at firecrotch for not showing up at the Kash and Grab. He completely forgot that Ian told him the night before that he was going to stay after school to try and catch up on some school work.

"Whatever. Why you so pissy? That bitch Tammy giving you shit again?" Mickey asks.

Debbie shakes her head and looks down at her feet. "Thanksgiving is two days away," she says in a tone that tells Mickey that alone should explain her depressing mood.

Mickey quirks his eyebrows in confusion. He really doesn't understand the somber mood with the Gallagher's and Thanksgiving. He thought that Debs will be excited to have a four day weekend. The ex-con thought that she would love the family shit that goes along with eating a big meal with the whole family sitting around the table, going on and on about what they are thankful and shit. But, it seems that Debs is anything but excited about the upcoming holiday.

And firecrotch is an even bigger mystery at the moment. He thought for sure that the redhead would have invited him over to his house for dinner, but so far nothing, Gallagher usually jumps at the opportunity to invite Mickey over for family functions. He has eaten countless meals over there over the last couple of months, and thought for sure that he would be invited over for Thanksgiving. Yeah, not so much.

"What is it with you Gallagher's? You guys have a celebratory dinner when Liam takes a shit on the toilet, but you're all miserable during Thanksgiving. I thought that you guys would be all about this holiday. Being grateful for happy and what you have. You guys love that shit." Mickey says as he rubs his bottom lip with his thumb.

Debbie is still looking down. "Thanksgiving used to be my favorite holiday?"

"Used to? Jesus, you sound like your twenty." Mickey says in exasperation.

"It was until last year," Debbie says.

And then everything clicks in Mickey's mind. He now understands why Ian didn't invite him over for dinner. He knows why Debs is so fucking miserable.

His mind recalls Mandy coming to see in juvie right after Thanksgiving last year. Her face wasn't painted on with a heavy coat of makeup as it usually is.

"Jesus, bitch. You look like shit." Mickey says through the telephone.

Mandy runs her hand through her messy hair. "Thanks, assface."

Mickey knows what his sister is about to ask next. And he doesn't know if he can deflect. She's always been good at reading him. He still can't believe that she hasn't figured out that he's gay. That he and her 'boyfriend' are fucking. Well, he should rephrase that they used to fuck, as in the past tense.

And that's why he needs to control the topic of conversation. Because she's now gonna ask him how's he doing. And in all honesty he's doing pretty shitty. He gave up the best thing he had with a couple of short, cruel words.

So before she can ask what he is sure she's about to, he asks. "What's wrong with you?"

"You know my boyfriend, Ian?"

Mickey nods, thinking to himself, 'Fuck, do I know your boyfriend.'

"Well, his mom came back." Mandy says.

Oh fuck! He thinks to himself. He remembers what a mess firecrotch was the last time that she came back. How he actually came to his house in broad daylight when his father, brothers, and Mandy could all see him. Him, being all sappy saying that he needed to see him. And how it was his, shall we say comforting that got him locked up in juvie the first time after fucking Kash caught them.

Trying to sound nonchalant, he asks "And?"

"She cut her wrists during Thanksgiving dinner. Fiona found her. Everyone saw it. Ian. His little sister and brother."

Fucking bitch! You want to off yourself, it's one thing. But, to do it like that. In front of your kids, is really fucked up. Hasn't firecrotch and his siblings been through enough shit?

Mickey shakes his head to try and clear it. Why does he care? Like he told Gallagher, they're done. He looks back at Mandy's face.

"Well, aren't you going to say anything?"

Mickey shrugs his shoulders like it's nothing big, like he doesn't care how Ian's holding up. "That's some fucked up shit."

"Well, your mom isn't around tight now, right?" Mickey asks, his mind returning to the present.

Debbie looks up and shakes her head. "We have no clue where she is."

"So, then this year is going to be better than last." Mickey says simply. He's no genius but he can put things in simple terms. If she's not there, then she can't try and kill herself, while her family is in the next room chowing down on dinner.

"Think of everything that you are thankful for. Think of how it's a good thing that your bat shit crazy mother didn't come back to fuck you guys up more. Think of how it's a miracle Carl hasn't been sent to juvie yet."

At first Debbie gives him a glare, but then her face changes. "Or how Ian's doing better," she adds.

The ex-con bites his lip. He is grateful for Ian, period. Because as much as hard as it is for him to say it, he is the best thing in the ex-con's life. And the thought that not too long ago they didn't know if he was going to make it has shifted the older boy's priorities. But, Ian is here. He's doing pretty well. His hand gives him issues, but they can handle it. But, Mickey doesn't want to sound all emotional and shit. He'll leave the Gallagher's to do that. They do enough of it for themselves and him. "Yeah, that too."

Debbie rolls her eyes. She knows him too damn well. Sometimes he feels like he's an open book when it comes to her and her brother. "So dinner's around four on Thursday, you coming?"

The ex-con gives her a crooked smile. Now that sounds better. That sounds more like a Gallagher.

XXXXX

"I can't believe you brought beer to dinner?" Mandy says as the siblings are walking up the stairs to the Gallagher's.

Mickey looks down at the beer in his hand. "What? At least I brought something, besides myself," he says as he adjusts the beer in his hand to pull his sister's hair.

Mandy's hand flies up to her brother's hand, "Ow, Mick. Let go!"

Mickey gives her a smirk, as he lets go once they reach the door. Their tiff is over, for the moment. They have to act kinda normal in front of the Gallagher's. That's gonna be difficult since the Milkovich definition of normal is a lot different that other people's, even the Gallagher's.

Just as Mickey's about to knock on the door, the door flies open. Fiona's standing in the doorway, nose scrunched in the air. What the fuck? He took a shower this morning, it can't be him. Then the unmistakable smell of burning plastic hits Mickey's nostrils.

"What did the sociopath try to charbroil this time?" The ex-con asks with a smirk.

"He put Liam's Mister Potato Head in the microwave," Fiona replies with a roll of the eyes. "Luckily, Ian got it out of the house before the microwave went up." She looks down at the beer in his hands and grabs one. "Good thing you brought those. Frank cleaned us out last night. Jimmy went with Kev on a booze run, but they're not back yet."

She moves to the side to let the siblings inside the house. "Everyone's in the kitchen." As Mickey walks into the kitchen he's nearly plowed over by Debs, who seems to have forgotten his rule of no hugging.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Mickey!" Debs exclaims.

He looks down at Debs' smiling face and is about to bite back 'get the fuck off', but he knows it's not going to do deter the kid. If anything she's only gonna hug him tighter. "You too, brat."

"Eww, gross!"

Mickey looks up at the Carl's exclamation to see his sister and Lip sucking face over by the stove.

"You know we have rooms for you guys to do that." Fiona says as she tries to push through the couple to stir something on the stove.

"My thoughts exactly," Mickey mumbles.

Lip turns to Mickey, "You're one to talk, Mick. Wasn't it just last week when I was over at your play place and when I went into the bathroom I caught you and Ian-"

Fiona throws her hands up in exasperation, "Okay. Enough! We got it! Do I need to remind you that there are young children listening to this!"

Mickey can feel his face start to blush, god he's been hanging around firecrotch way too much. He's even starting to get flustered like him. But then again, the ex-con doesn't need a reminder of the events that transpired last week.

He told Ian that they shouldn't be at his place, because he wasn't sure where his sister was. But, fucking firecrotch was so damn happy, like a puppy who was let off his leash for the first time for good behavior. He just got back from the doctor's office and it was decided that Ian would probably benefit from another surgery to help correct his thumb. This was a good thing because up until this point the doctors and therapists didn't even consider another surgery. All of them thought that Ian's damaged thumb would remain that way. But now it seems like that can change. Or at least the damage won't be as severe. So of course the redhead wanted to celebrate. And Mickey couldn't take that away from him.

But, what Mickey could do away with was the stupid fucking look on Lip's face and Mandy's loud ass laughing when Lip walked in on them. The only conciliation was that they were not actually in the act per se. Clothes were off, and Mickey was in the midst of biting down on Ian's neck, when the door to his room was flung open, with Lip standing there in shock..

The strangest thing about the whole situation was that Mandy didn't really care. To think that not too long ago Mickey was nervous as shit to tell his sister that not only was he gay, but that he was fucking her 'boyfriend.' When Lip screamed at the sight he saw, she wasn't grossed out. She just laughed and asked Lip if he saw who was bottoming. That's the one question that Mickey, and Ian refuse to answer.

Mickey shakes his head to try and clear away these thoughts. Almost as if she's sensing how uncomfortable he is, Debs says "Ian's out back, putting the inferno out."

Mickey gives her a grateful look and heads out the backdoor. He immediately spots the red hair in the vast of white, courtesy of the foot and a half of snow that came down a couple of days ago. "It's colder than fuck out here."

Ian looks up from a pile of ashes of what used to be the kid's toy, with a huge grin. "Hey, Mick. You came."

Mickey rolls his eyes. "Fuck yeah, I came. Your sister is hell of a better cook than mine. She can burn a fucking grilled cheese sandwich."

Ian rolls his eyes. He knows that the ex-con didn't just come for food, especially since he never formally invited him over for dinner. He knows that Mickey's there for another reason.

As if sensing the need to defend himself for coming Mickey goes on to say, "And your kid sister invited me. I don't want to get on her bad side. She can be more miserable than you when she's pissed off about something."

Ian snickers, "You're really afraid of my twelve year old sister. And you can me a pussy."

Mickey shakes his head and looks down, away from Ian's knowing eye. While he's looking away from Ian's face he sees that the redhead's thumb is twitching. The nerve's probably acting up because of the weather. A nasty storm plowed into the city three days ago and the drop in the barometric pressure always seem to fuck with Ian's hand. Mickey takes Ian's hand in his own, massaging the twitching appendage.

"Ah, Mick. You want to hold hands," Ian says with a smirk.

The ex-con drops Ian's hand instantly. "Fuck you. I just wanted to make sure it was okay so you could at least give me a hand job later. You owe me at least that much for coming over here. Debs already gave me a hug."

Ian starts to laugh because he always finds it amusing to see Mickey try to pass it off that he hates it when Debs hugs him or that he hates coming over to the house for dinner, but to this day Mickey has never turned either one of them down.

"What the fuck do you find so funny?" Mickey asks.

"Nothing. I just think-"

"Ian! Mickey! Dinner's ready."Fiona calls out the door.

"You heard her. We better get going before all the food is gone. I've seen your brother Carl mow down an entire rib eye in four fucking minutes when Jimmy brought home food for Lip's birthday." Mickey says as he starts to walk back towards the house.

The pair is met with the usual chaos of a Gallagher meal. Both Mickey and Mandy are now kinda used to this since they have had several meals over there over the last couple of months. They're used to the loudness and the usual squabbling. The thing that still unsettles Mickey is that even though the Gallagher's are loud and they do fight, the words are never that malicious. They're never really meant to hurt anybody. That is nothing like the words that were spoken during meals at his house with his own family. And based from the looks that Mandy shoots him every so often he sees that she feels the same way.

Even though the meal is loud and everyone for the most part seems to be engrossed with their own meals, Mickey can still feel looks in his direction every so often. What the fuck? It's not like he's holding firecrotch's hand. What is everyone looking at? But then he notices that the looks are not directed at him per se, they're mostly directed at the person to the right of him. He looks and sees that Ian has pretty much given up using his fork the correct way. He has positioned his fork so it's essentially anchored under his middle finger and is more or less using his fork as a shovel. At first Mickey thinks what the fuck, but then he notices that Ian's thumb is still twitching uncontrollably. And based on the increasing blush in his face Mickey can see that Ian can feel his family's attention being directed at him.

Mickey stares at Lip when he notices the older boy looking at Ian out of the side of his eye. This is the perfect opportunity because he knows that Lip won't get all pissy with what he's about to do. "What the fuck are you looking at Gallagher, haven't you ever seen anyone eat before?"

The comment has the desired effect and everyone returns to their means, not looking at Ian as he's eating. Mickey catches a glimpse of a smile from Debs. She probably noticed the way everyone was looking at Ian, but didn't want to say anything because even though she does have a hell of a lot more maturity than most twenty year olds, she is still such a kid and is told so quite often.

"Who's ready for dessert?" Fiona asks after all the dishes have been cleared. Mickey is stuffed. After his third helpings of potatoes, stuffing, and a large amount of turkey Mickey shouldn't be able to fit in any more, but then again when is he gonna eat this good again. From listening to Gallagher's ramblings he knows that the Gallagher's are pretty much strapped more cash after Thanksgiving. And that's pre-Ian being in the hospital.

Dessert isn't very fancy. It's basically everyone sitting in the living room eating pie from some fancy bakery that Jimmy brought. Mickey's trying to ignore his gag reflex as he watches his sister suck Lip's face. He's saved from saying when he Des says, "Eww, gross. I'm gonna puke my whole meal up and I'm sure you're not going to wanna clean it up."

The couple quickly breaks apart as Mickey helps himself to a third piece of pie. Ian Is sitting way too close to him on the floor, and if it was anywhere else he would have told him to get the fuck off. But, because they're at the Gallagher's place and everyone there knows they're together he doesn't. But, if Ian tries to hold his hand or rub his leg, he's still gonna tell him to fuck off.

As Mickey takes a sip of his beer the door slams open. Everyone looks up to see Franks swaying in the doorway.

"Hey, Daddy." Debs says with a smile. Everyone else goes back to eating their dessert, grumbling hello. "Happy Thanksgiving." God help the kid. She always tries to see the best in people. That's probably why she is the one who is the most accepting of Mickey being part of her brother's life, always inviting him over for dinner and other celebrations. Mickey can't fault her for that.

Just as Mickey is about to take another bite of his pie he sees Frank bend down out of the corner of his eye to grab Ian's plate.

"Hey, that's mine!" Ian exclaims as he stands up and slams his arm on Frank's shoulders.

"Ian just give it to him, Ian!" Fiona exclaims.

Ian ignores his sister's plea and goes to grab his plate. Frank doesn't back down and instead throws the plate. Ian ducks and now with his hand free he grabs Ian and slams him into the nearby wall. Ian's first extinct is to put his hand out to protect himself from Frank's fist, his injured hand. He grunts in pain as his bad hand makes harsh contact with the wall behind him when frank slams it back into the wall.

There's complete chaos. Everyone's rushing towards Ian and Frank, yelling. "Get your fucking hands off him!" is heard over all the screams and pleas. Everyone looks on as Mickey pulls Frank off of Ian. "Don't you ever touch him again! You hear me?!" Mickey yells as he pins Frank against the wall. "If you do, I'll kill you. Do you understand me?" You're dead!"

"Mickey, stop," a soft voice says as he feels a gentle hand on the small of his back. A touch that's too small to be his sister's or Ian's. At the sound of Debs' voice, Mickey backs away from Frank.

"Get out of here, before I fucking kill you," Mickey bites out.

Frank takes the cue and quickly makes his exit. With Frank gone all eyes fall onto Ian who has slid towards the floor, holding his injured hand.

"Well, what the fuck is everyone standing around for? Get an ice pack," Vee yells to no one in particular. Carl gets up to go to the kitchen.

"Hey man, you okay?" Lip asks as he extends a hand towards his brother.

Ian accepts his help and stands up. "I'm good."

"Let's finish our pie," Fiona says as she tries to change the subject.

"Let me look at your hand," Vee says as she guides Ian towards the couch.

Mickey stands back as watches Vee examine Ian's hand and the others go back to eating their dessert.

"Here, I brought these." Carl says as he comes back with an icepack and Ian's bottle of Percocet.

"How does it look?" Jimmy asks as he looks over the couch at Ian and Vee. "Should we go to the hospital?"

"It's swollen, but it doesn't look broken. I say we just call Dr. Lee's office tomorrow to be cautious," Vee says.

A collective sigh fills the room. But Mickey remains silent when he sees Ian take a pain pill without complaint. He must be really hurting.

"I need a smoke," Mickey says. Ian doesn't say anything as his head drops back into the couch cushions.

"I'll come with you," Lip says.

The pair head towards the door ignoring Debbie's warning of lung cancer and emphysema.

"Thanks for what you did back there," Lip says as he lights a joint.

"Well, what the fuck else was I supposed to do?" Mickey says as he takes the offered butt. "He had your brother pinned to the fucking wall."

"I Know, but for you to come to his defense like that says something."

"Says what?" Mickey asks.

"Says that you care a lot about my brother," Lip says with a smile. "I don't think that I have even jumped to your sister's defense as fast as you did to my brother's."

Mickey rolls his eyes. "Fuck off, Gallagher. You say that shit again, I don't care whether or not you're fucking my sister, I'm gonna kick your ass."

Lip lets out a loud laugh.

"Fuck off, Gallagher."

"Last time I checked that's my brother's job."

XXXXX

"Is he asleep," Ian slurs from his bed.

Mickey rolls his eyes. Firecrotch is such a fucking lightweight.

"Yeah, Debs put him down." Mickey says as he walks further into Ian's room. Lip and Mandy disappeared back to their place after dessert, probably because they knew Mickey would be with Ian. Kev and Vee both had to work and Jimmy and Fiona decided to take Carl out to watch the football game at some hotel sports bar. They'll be gone for the night. That leaves just Liam, Debs, Mickey, and a drugged up Ian back at the house.

"You're not gonna leave all you?" Ian asks through half lidded eyes. "Please stay."

Mickey rolls his eyes. Firecrotch always get sentimental when he takes a perc. He's told Mickey that he loved him countless times and started crying about the stupidest shit after he took one.

"I'll stay if you roll over," Mickey replies.

Ian gives him a confused look.

"You're in the middle of the fucking bed. I'm not gonna stand here and stare at you. If you want me to stay move the fuck over."

Gallagher attempts to move over, but only succeeds in getting tangled in his sheets.

"What the fuck, firecrotch. It's not that difficult!" Mickey hisses.

"You can say that again," Debs says as she rushes into the room and in one swift motion takes a hold of Ian sheet and moves him over to the other side of the bed. "There, carry on." She proceeds to put in a pair of air plugs. "You're all set. Do whatever you want to do. Liam is out for the count," She says in a loud voice as she exits the room and slams the door close.

Mickey takes this as a cue that it's safe. He kicks his shoes off on his way to Gallagher's bed. He lays down next to Ian. Laying this close to Ian, he can feel the heat radiating off of Ian's injured hand. Fucking Frank. It's a good thing that firecrotch's kid siblings were there. If Debs didn't call him off who knows what might have happened. Mickey very well could have been in a holding cell right now.

"I'm glad you came," Ian says in a quiet tone as he nudges closer to Mickey, placing his injured hand on his stomach. He knows better than to try and hold Mickey's hand. He was told on quite a few occasions by Mickey that he does not hold hands.

"I told you. The food here is a hell of a lot better than at my place," Mickey replies.

"Still I'm happy you came," Ian slurs as his face drops closer to Mickey's shoulder. "This was the best Thanksgiving."

Mickey looks at Ian, "Best Thanksgiving? Your brother burned a Mister Potato Head. I had to pry your father off you. Now you're hopped up on Percocet. What the fuck are other holidays like around here?"

But, Mickey doesn't get an answer. All he gets are the sounds of Ian's deep breathing and slight whistling from his nose, signaling he's asleep. Knowing that Deb knows better than to walk in here, and that Lip is probably still fucking his sister, and that Carl and Fiona are gone for the night, Mickey rolls over towards Ian and gently puts his arm across Ian's waist, carefully avoiding Ian's injured hand.

Maybe firecrotch was right, maybe this is the best Thanksgiving.