Disclaimer: I don't own Shameless. If I did there will be no way in hell we would be waiting until next year for season four.
A/N: My "Self Preservation" verse still remains close to my heart even with my new WIP "Broken" taking over a lot of my writing my time. With that in mind, this idea just came to me. It takes place during my "Self Preservation" verse, but it still coincides with some major storylines seen in the last part of season three. If you don't understand what I mean, you will after reading this. Now I'm done with the ridiculously long author's note, onto the story.
Coming to Understandings
Mickey looks over his shoulder at the Escalade that is parked across the street from the Gallagher's house. He walks a little faster to head off the cold winter weather from getting into his bones. He doesn't even knock on the Gallagher's door as he lets himself in. The sounds of Debbie and the little sociopath arguing greet him as he walks into the living room. Liam is sitting on the floor by Debbie, seemingly undisturbed by the shouting match that is taking place mere inches from him. Or more likely he's just used to the noise
"Fiona is gonna kill you if you ruin more of Liam's Legos. He's already down a Mr. Potato Head after your little experiment on Thanksgiving," Debbie growls in frustration.
Mickey shakes his head as he sees Carl with a hot glue gun in one hand and a couple of Legos in the other. "Think of me as baby proofing. If I superglue them all together, he can't choke on them."
"He can't play with them either!" Debs hisses.
Having enough, Mickey grabs the weapon out of the budding sociopath's hand and hands the Legos to the toddler who accepts them with sticky fingers and a smile. Carl groans in frustration. "Come on, Mickey!"
Mickey shakes his head. "Didn't you learn anything from when you used that nail gun to nail the plates to the kitchen table? You know Fiona has been in a pissy mood the last couple of weeks, don't add any more fuel to the fire."
Debbie gives her brother an all knowing smirk. "He's right. Fiona's gonna have your ass if you mess with more of Liam's toys."
Mickey gently slaps Carl on the back of the head. "I heard my sister bitching about how she caught your brother with some porn. It's in his room. Have fun."
Carl gives him a huge smile and is out of the room within seconds.
"You're lucky Fiona isn't here. She'd be pissed," Debbie says.
Mickey waves the girl off with his hand and walks over to the living room window, looks out to see that the same sleek Escalade is still there. "At least it saved Liam some toys. The way Carl is going with your sister never being home because of her new, fancy office gig Liam's chewing on his own fist is the only entertainment the little rugrat is gonna have left."
"Ian has a OT session today. He's not gonna be back for another hour," Debbie says.
The ex-con nods his head. He knows this. He knows Gallagher's therapy schedule too damn well. He also knows that Gallagher is really hurting with the cold snap that has settled over the city for the last week or so. Dr. Lee said that cold weather and drop in barocraptic or whatever the fuck pressure it is that comes with a drastic change in weather would cause Gallagher intense pain, but Mickey hoped that the doctor would be wrong. They were before when firecrotch got that fucking infection and they thought that he wasn't gonna make it. Sadly, the quack wasn't wrong this time. And now Gallagher is in near constant pain. He needs that fucking surgery, but it looks like that ain't gonna happen because like the rest of Southside the Gallagher's are barely making ends meet, even with Fiona's new permanent job because they're still paying off the mountain of firecrotch's hospital bills.
"I know that," Mickey replies as he turns back to the young girl.
Debbie picks Liam up and puts him on the couch next to her. "Then why are you looking out the window?"
Mickey doesn't say anything at first because he doesn't want to spook the kid. He ignores her and stares out the window at the vehicle that seems to always be parked near the house over the last couple of months.
"That car has been there for months, Mickey. Why are you so twitchy about it now?" Debs asks.
Mickey's head whips back to Debbie. The girl is too fucking smart and honest. Then again that's why the redhead has a special place in his heart ever since she showed up at his door, heartbroken months ago when Gallagher was in the hospital thanks to those fuckers and his shitty excuse for a father.
And he knows that what's he's about to say shouldn't be shared with a soon to be teenager, that Fiona, Lip, and probably even Ian would probably have a shitfit if they knew what he was about to say, but he knows that she could handle it. "I thought that it would be gone after Jimmy took off." Ian told him how Jimmy was forced to marry some Brazilian drug dealer's daughter. He just assumed that the car parked outside the Gallagher's house was because of that and that when Jimmy vanished a month ago leaving Fiona with puffy eyes and Debbie and Carl reeling from someone else they care about abandoning them, the ex-con thought the car would leave too.
Debbie doesn't say anything and Mickey turns back to see the little girl wipe her eyes with her sleeve. It's shit like that and Gallagher curling up in a ball because even after two Percocet's the pain is so bad, that makes him wish that Lip didn't talk him out of tracking Jimmy down himself and fucking the asshole up. Fuck taking the higher road, Jimmy hurt them.
"Since your shithead brother won't be home for another hour, wanna play a game of Mario Kart?"
He watches as Debs wipes the unshed tears from her eyes and gives him a toothy smile. "Sure! I'm gonna kick your butt. Call of Duty might be your game, but I own Mario Kart."
Mickey takes the offered game controller as Debs starts the game. Jimmy may have taken off from the Gallagher's, but Mickey sure as hell isn't. You don't abandon family.
XXXXX
Mickey throws the empty beer bottle on the ground as he nears the parked Escalade. He can drink more later, he has business to take care of at the moment. He's been meaning to do this for a few days now. Hell he's been meaning to do this since Jimmy took off leaving Fiona, Debbie, and Carl brokenhearted and more importantly to Mickey, no means to fix Gallagher's busted hand. Fiona's insurance doesn't cover reconstructive surgery, just a steady supply of pain meds. And they're not doing shit as of late, especially today with Gallagher hold up in bed, missing both school and work.
To his credit, Mickey has tried giving Fiona money. He's offered some of his take on his meth deals. But, she wants no part of it. Mickey is pretty sure that the douche in the Escalade knows where preppy boy is. Maybe he can go through him to get money for Gallagher so his hand can be fixed and his hospital bills can be paid off.
With fists at his side, Mickey makes his way to the driver's side window of the luxury car and knocks on the window. Surprisingly the window quickly rolls down, "What you want?"
Mickey bites his lip. "You know where Jimmy is?"
The prick shakes his head with a condescending smile, "I don't know."
It takes all of Mickey's patience not to spit in the fucker's face. "Look I don't give a shit he's gone. But, I know you know where he is. And if you don't tell me where, I'm gonna call the police and tell him that someone in an Escalade is jerking off in front of a house where there are three young children."
The smile vanishes off of the asshole's face and before he knows it the fucker has his hand in an iron grip. Seconds later he hears the snapping of his index finger and stares dumbly at the distorted finger. "Is that right?"
It takes Mickey a second to collect himself, but he does. He can deal with his fucked up finger later, at the moment he has business to take care of. Without blinking he moves his head forwards and swiftly makes contact with the asshole's nose. He can't help but smile when the other is muttering what Mickey can only assume are curses in another language under his breath as he tries to stop the stream of blood that is spewing from his broken nose.
The ex-con leans into the car and hisses, "Listen Paco, you might have been king of your empire back in the fucking Amazon, but back here in Chicago, Southside, this is Milkovich country. So, I'm only gonna say this once. Somehow you're gonna get Fiona the $100,000 so that Ian can get that surgery he needs and their bills are paid off. I don't care if it's from Jimmy, from your boss, or from your fucking grandmother. She's getting that money."
Mickey raises his head as if he's gonna head butt the foreigner again. The other moves back away from Mickey, holding his nose protectively. "Got it, she get money."
Mickey smiles as he gently taps the other man on the cheek gently. "Good, glad we cleared that up." He quickly moves away from the SUV and makes his way to the Gallagher house. He can't help but smile when he hears tires screeching. He turns to see that the vehicle that has been a permanent fixture the last couple of months is speeding down the road in the opposite direction.
Before Mickey enters the Gallagher's house, he stands off to the side of the porch to fix his finger. He doesn't need Ian to get upset because of a mere broken finger. He quickly sets his finger, holding back the loud scream. Damn, Brazillo knows his shit.
Once that is done he once again lets himself into the house that has become almost like a second home to him. The living room is quiet. The kids are probably out because they have had plenty of experience of Ian having a bad day, and feeling helpless as they watch him suffer in pain. Lip updated him earlier and said that his brother was trying to sleep through the pain, but based on past experiences Mickey knows that is not the case because the pain is so bad that sleep evades. He takes the stairs two at a time and is soon at Gallagher's door. He cautiously opens it, as soon as he enters he hears Gallagher's harsh breaths, trying to reign in the pain.
Mickey moves towards Gallagher's bed and sees that the redhead is facing the wall, his damaged hand pulled tight to his chest. He gently sits on the bed and for the countless time he wishes death on the Daniels brothers and their cousin when Ian lets out a pained moan.
"You due for another perc?" Mickey asks, breaking the silence.
Gallagher lets out a loud sigh, "Took one an hour. Also took a muscle relaxer. Nothing's helping," he whispers brokenly.
Mickey inches down beside Gallagher and goes to grab Gallagher's injured hand.
But, Gallagher is stubborn as ever he tucks his hand closer to himself.
Not deterred in the slightest Mickey says, "Give me."
Ian looks up and over at the ex-con, uncertainly.
"Come on, I can't make it any worse," Mickey reasons.
Ian hesitantly moves his hand away from his chest and places it on his leg, where Mickey can reach it. The ex-con gently puts his hand on the other boy's injured hand, feeling the damaged muscles spasming under his calloused fingers. He gently starts to massage the damaged hand and can hear Ian's breaths start to even out, signaling that the younger boy is drifting off to sleep. Soon Mickey joins him, with his hand still resting over Gallagher's
XXXXX
"Food's here!" Lip yells as he barges into the room a little while later. Both Mickey and Ian jerk up in alarm, Ian still clutching his injured hand.
"Hope I didn't interrupt the two of you fucking," Lip says with a smirk.
"Fuck, gross!" Mandy calls from the hallway. "I don't need to hear that shit."
Mickey gives Lip the finger and tells his sister to fuck off in one motion. They're both fully clothed and Mickey is still on top of the covers. Not to mention that Gallagher was in no condition to fuck.
"Fuck you," Ian says as he sleepily wipes his eyes, no doubt still feeling the effects of a day stupor filled with percs and muscle relaxers.
"Seriously man, do you think you can eat something? I know how the meds fuck with your stomach. Fi got pizza."
Of course Fiona brought home pizza. Pizza is Ian's safe food. It's a hell of a lot easier than using a fork and is especially handy when Ian is having a bad day. With the crappy weather as of late, they've been eating a shitload of pizza.
"Yeah, I think I can handle some." Ian says as he stands up.
The four of them make their way down to the kitchen and join the stereotypical craziness of a Gallagher meal time. Mickey takes his usual seat between Debbie and Ian.
"Eat up!" Fiona says with a cheerful smile as she takes a sip of beer. A tone that Mickey hasn't heard in awhile, not since before Jimmy took off.
"Why the hell are you in such a good mood?" Carl asks through a mouthful of pizza.
"Yeah, you've been acting like you've been on the rag for almost a month now. What gives?" Lip says as he takes a sip of his own beer.
Mandy raises her eyebrows in agreement, but knows enough not to say anything. She and Fiona have been getting along a lot better as of late, probably because of their mutual concern over the redheaded teenager.
Mickey is so busy shoving pizza into his mouth that he nearly misses Fiona eyeing him from across the table. She looks at his bruised, swollen finger and gives him a small smile.
"I've come into some money," Fiona replies. She smiles at Ian as she reaches over the table and touches his good hand, "Looks like you're finally gonna get that surgery, kid."
Ian looks up from his pizza with wide eyes. "What?"
"You heard me, monkey. I'll call Dr. Lee tomorrow to set you up an appointment."
"Oh my god! This is so good!" Debbie whoops.
"Awesome!" Carl hollers.
Mandy bends over and starts sucking Lip's face in celebration. Fuck, Mickey can do away with not seeing that shit.
"I think this calls for something stronger than beer," Lip says as he breaks apart from Mandy. He stands up and goes to the living room. He returns with a bottle of expensive scotch, probably stole it from someone at some point. He quickly pours a hefty glass for himself, Mandy, Fiona, Ian, and Mickey and about a sip in a glass for Debbie and Carl. Soon everyone has a class.
"Cheers! To better things." Lip says with a smile.
Just as Fiona is about to take a sip of her drink she looks at Mickey again, at the injured finger that is holding his cup of booze with a knowing look. As the glasses clink in celebration, Mickey can read Fiona's lips through the cheap plastic glass. Thank you.
Mickey just smirks and shrugs his shoulders as he swallows his drink in one long gulp. He's the master of keeping secrets. He can keep one more. As Gallagher squeezes his thigh under the table with his hand, Mickey thinks to himself. Fuck what's one more
I hope you guys liked this. I actually hammered it out in less than four hours. The idea just came to me. Please don't hate me. I personally love Beto and hope that somehow the writers of Shamless can find a way to keep him around for next season. But, I do love my boys more