Disclaimer: I still don't own Shameless.

A/N1: I hope you guys enjoy this update. Thank you to all who have reviewed, alerted, and favorited this story. It's your enthusiasm for this story that pushed me to update so quickly.

A/N2: I'm kinda nervous about posting this chapter because of the direction that I took the story. With that said the very last part of this chapter is triggery for a pretty sensitive subject. You've been warned.

Broken-Chapter Two

"What do you mean 'they found Ian,' Lip. Who found him?" Mandy asks frantically.

"Tony came and told me at the group home," Lip begins to explain.

Mandy puts her hand up. "Wait, the cops found him? I thought that you didn't want to go to the cops because of DFS."

Lip is clenching his hands into fists, Mickey can see that Gallagher's getting frustrated with his sister's stupid fucking questions.

"Jesus, Mandy. Let him fucking talk!" Mickey growls.

Lip gives him a grateful look. "When Ian didn't come back to the group home again last night, I had no choice. I called Tony. He put in some calls to the hospitals." Lip takes a deep breath before he continues. "Someone matching Ian's description was brought into Mercy early yesterday morning."

Mandy shakes her head, "Wait, you said that someone matching Ian's description was brought into Mercy. You don't know for sure it's him. You told me that you guys aren't allowed to carry your wallets. So he didn't have his id on him. It probably isn't even Ian."

Mickey wishes that his sister is right. But, the look on Gallagher's face says otherwise. He doesn't know that much about Lip, but from what he has heard from Ian he knows that the older Gallagher would never come over and say something like that if there was even a smallest chance of it not being true.

"I saw him, Mands. It's him," Lip says quietly.

Mandy shakes her head back and forth in denial. "You can't be sure."

Lip slowly nods his head. "I am, Mandy. I recognized the scar on his shoulder."

Mickey knows instantly the scar Lip is talking about. He recalls seeing the jagged scar one time when Ian's back was towards him when he was putting his shirt on after they fucked. Mickey's eyes were transfixed on the jagged, fresh scar that marred Gallagher's pale and nearly flawless skin. The ex-con quickly looked away when he saw that Ian noticed him staring at his back at the time.

"Frank was high on meth and shoved me hard into the door. Vee had to stitch it up. Took ten stitches."

Mickey shook his head nonchalantly and replies, "I had worse."

Gallagher gives Mickey his patented shit eating grin, "I know you have, Mick."

Mandy's crying brings Mickey back to the present, no longer able to deny what she wanted so badly to believe isn't true. Lip takes her in his arms and makes eye contact with the ex-con.

That look says it all. The nervous look that was on Gallagher's face when he first barged in is now gone. It's replaced with one of… understanding. In that instant everything is made clear. Lip fucking Gallagher knows about him and Ian. Fuck! His hearing is going in and out. He vaguely hears his sister asking Lip how bad it is, but he doesn't hear Gallagher's response. Mickey needs to get out of here, and fast. He can't deal with this shit.

Over his sister's crying and Lip's attempts at calming her down, Mickey mutters "I have to get to work." Too wrapped up in their despair, the pair doesn't even acknowledge his exit. As Mickey quickly makes his way to the Kash and Grab all he can think of, is that Ian better be fucking okay. He doesn't want his last words to the redhead to be telling him to keep his faggy ass away from him. What's worse is that he doesn't want the last look Ian gave him to be the heartbroken look on his face when Mickey threatened to kill him. It reminds him so much of that time before when he told Gallagher they were done just before he set off to kill Frank. To think that just as before he said and acted like that In hopes of keeping Gallagher alive. But unlike before, this time it may have all been for nothing.

XXXXX

Mickey is nervously bouncing his leg up and down, trying to keep his mind off of Gallagher. A part of him wants to believe that Gallagher was attacked randomly by some fucker for kicks. But, another part of him is thinking it's something else entirely. Did his dad decide that it was too much of a chance to keep Gallagher around? That he may 'sway' Mickey back to the gay side? That Gallagher was just another loose end that needed to do away with?

He doesn't want to fucking be here, but where else could he go? He can't barge into the hospital, demanding to see Ian. How the fuck would he explain himself? And he can't lose this job. Linda was good about him missing a few days, but he doesn't know how much more leeway she's going to give him, especially now that Ian is laid up in the hospital for fuck knows how long. He needs this job for his parole. He needs to be out of juvie so that he can keep an eye on Gallagher, make sure he's safe. If his fears are right and his dad was the one that attacked Ian then it looks like he failed at that attempt.

The bell over the door signals someone just walked in. Mickey looks over to see Lip. Just fucking great.

"What the fuck do you want?" Mickey hisses as he walks over to the cooler and takes out a beer. If he has to deal with Lip's shit, he's gonna need a fucking drink.

"I'm shocked that you're here after the way you ran out of the house when I told you and Mandy about Ian," Lip says quietly as he too grabs a beer.

"Well, where else do you think I'll be?" Mickey bites out as he takes a sip.

Lip shrugs his shoulders. "Thought that you might be at the hospital."

Mickey rubs his bottom lip, "The hospital?"

Lip slams his beer down on the counter in frustration. "Yes, Mickey. The fucking hospital! I know about the two of you. I saw the look on your face back at your place, you know that I know! So stop the fucking act!"

Mickey at least has the decency to no longer feign confusion, but he doesn't say anything either. Maybe if he can ignore the huge elephant in the room, it'll go away. Even though he does want to know how firecrotch is doing. No wait, he needs to know how Ian is doing, but he still can't bring himself to ask.

Almost as if the Gallagher standing in front of him can read his mind, Lip asks "Do you want to know how he is? How bad?"

No, Mickey doesn't want to know how bad it is. But, he needs to. So he silently nods his head.

"He has a skull fracture, a broken cheekbone and nose. The fuckers broke five of his ribs and one punctured his lung. He has a broken collarbone, hand, and fingers. His ankle is really fucked up and they had to put pins and plates in it." Lip stops for a second and Mickey thinks that is the extent of Ian's injuries.

"There's more," Lip says.

More? What else could there possibly be?

"Apparently beating the shit out of him wasn't enough. They also cut him up pretty good. They nicked his small intestine and took a chunk out of his spleen. The docs had no choice but to remove it."

Mickey's hands are now into fists. He can't let his father get away with this. "I'm gonna kill him," Mickey snarls.

Lip raises his eyebrows and realization sets in. He knows who the ex-con is referring to. "Mickey, it wasn't your dad."

"How can you be so fucking sure?" Mickey asks angrily.

"Because after what your father saw, I don't think that it would have taken three days for him to go after my brother. If he wanted my brother dead he probably would have killed him on the spot."

Yeah and he would have if I didn't get on top of my father and pulled him off of him, Mickey thinks to himself. Lip doesn't need to know that though. The ex-con's eyebrows raise in question. "Your brother told you about that?"

Lip nods his head. "Yeah, well when he showed up at the group home with his face looking like he went a couple of rounds in the ring, I didn't let up until he told me."

Mickey shakes his head. "He shouldn't have fuckin' done that."

Lip snickers. "What shouldn't he have told me? The part where he was forced to watch you fuck a hooker to get the fag out of you. Or the part about the shit you said to him right before your father shot a bullet in his direction!" Mickey doesn't say anything because he knows that Gallagher is right about everything and he remains silent as Lip continues his tirade. "Unlike you fucking Milkoviches, we Gallagher's try and be as honest as we can with each other. I've known for a fucking long time about the two of you. I kept my fucking mouth shut because as much as I wished he would have fallen for someone else, he didn't. He fell for you and I knew that if anyone else found out, he'd be dead."

Lip is now quiet so Mickey thinks his rant might be over. He asks quietly, "You said it yourself if anyone else found out about us, he'd be dead. And my dad found out. How do you know for sure it wasn't him?"

Mickey can see Ian's brother take a deep breath. "They say that he was found outside of The Blue Room. It's a gay bar on the other side of town."

"So, that doesn't mean shit. My dad does leave the Southside sometimes," Mickey quips.

"Yeah, but they know for sure that it was more than one person."

"Two of my brothers have been MIA for two days," Mickey adds.

Lip closes his eyes. "That's not it. Trust me, Mickey. It wasn't your father or brothers who did this. So just stop thinking that it was."

"Trust you? Why? Because you're fucking my sister? I don't trust very easily, especially at the moment right now, Gallagher. I'm gonna kill whoever did this. I need to know who! I need to know if I'm gonna kill my father and my shithead brothers!"

With his eyes still closed, Lip shakes his head and repeats again "I'm telling you it wasn't your fucking father or brothers."

"How can you be so fucking sure?!" Mickey yells.

Lip is always running his mouth, the fact that he is staying mum about this means that there is something else going on. Something that he doesn't want to tell the ex-con.

"Just tell me why you know it wasn't my dad," Mickey asks again in a calmer voice.

Lip starts to chuckle lightly. "I wish I could say that it was your dad. Because then you would kill him, no questions asked and Ian would be safe."

Jesus fuck Christ, would Gallagher get it out already.

"Wish I could say it was your dad, but I can't."

"Why?" Mickey says for what feels like the hundredth time.

Lip finally looks Mickey right in the eye. "Because if your father made you fuck a girl to get the faggot out of you, there's no way in hell he or your brothers would have raped him."

I'm now going to run for cover….I hope I didn't scare too many of you away.