A/N: So, yes, that was a bit of a dickish prologue, you might even say pointless, but it is what it is, and it's what I wanted it to be: erratic and scatty, how I imagine Ian's thinking to be during a manic episode.

Also, just a small note. Everyone is roughly three years younger than present, but Kev and Vee still have Gemma and Amy.

Chapter One

Lights. Really bright lights. Everywhere. It was all Ian could see when he tried to open his eyes. That harshness of the light stung when he finally cracked them open, so he closed them again. His mouth felt dry. A pathetic attempt at clearing his throat made no difference, so he begrudgingly forced his eyes open, squinting at the brutal whiteness that surrounded him, and pushed himself up from his laying position. He grunted at the pain that ran through his chest, but ignored it. When his eyes had adjusted, he looked around, hoping to find a drink. He struggled to turn to inspect his surroundings enough for a drink. But from the view that he did have, he found Fiona, asleep in a large chair, her brown curls handing around her face in a tangled mess, her face showing the signs of worry and sleeplessness in the form of dark shadows under her eyes.

"Fi… Fiona," Ian croaked out, his voice meek, but still enough to rouse his sister.

"Ian?! Ian, you're awake! Thank God!" Fiona choked out, her eyes brimming with tears as she stood up, calling down the corridor "Nurse? Nurse! My brother's awake!"

There was a flurry of Ians called out, and the voices made their way in to the room, all of them barging their way through the door to pile on their brother. There were so many people around, Ian couldn't think, didn't know what to do or where to look, and suddenly his breathing was becoming sharper and quicker. He tried to breathe in, but it felt like there was a lump in his throat that wouldn't budge, stopping him from being able to get any air. Fiona was the first to notice.

"Guys, get off him, give him some fucking space!" She came closer to him as the others moved away. "Get out for a minute, guys," she told them, pouring a glass of water for him as she stepped towards him again, taking his hand and looking him straight in the eye. "Ian, you… you gotta' calm down. Look at me. Don't look away from me. We're gonna' breathe. That's all we're gonna' do: breathe," Fiona explained calmly, taking long, deep breaths.

He couldn't. He couldn't breathe. It was like he was drowning on air or something. He gestured to his throat, shaking his head as worry continued to overtake him, tears threatening to fall.

"You can. You can, Ian. You're just havin' a panic attack. Now look at me." She put the water down and sat on the edge of the bed, taking his other hand and looking directly at him with the tears still in her eyes. "Just take deep breaths with me, hon, you can do this. Just slowly. Deep breaths."

He could see the fear in Fiona's eyes, he imagined it wasn't too far from his own, but he tried not to focus on that. He closed his eyes, just listening to the sound of Fiona's deep breaths, trying shakily to breathe in sync with her.

"That's it. You're… you're doing awesome. Just keep breathing with me. Don't stop. Don't think of anything else, just focus on your breathing. Keep going." His sister reassured him, her hands squeezing his comfortingly.

Ian could slowly feel his throat begin to gradually open up more. And soon he was breathing almost normally, just slightly laboured. Tears spilt down his cheeks when he opened them, looking to his big sister and seeing her own fear slowly seeping away, relief flooding her face. Ian ignored all of the pain he felt and allowed himself to lean in to the warmth of her chest.

"You're okay, sweetie, you're okay. We're all here, we're here for you," she soothed, holding him close and stroking his hair gently.

"Ian Gallagher?" A small voice said.

"About fucking time. He's just had a panic attack, but you guys were clearly too busy to come and help him," Fiona said, her voice protective. She stood up so that she could get the water and handed it to him. "You got it?" Ian nodded in response, holding the glass in both of his hands, one of which he was now noticing was in a cast (his right). "Good. So, you gonna' check him over or just stand there and watch?" She asked sternly, turning on the nurse.

"If you'd like to leave the room so we can examine Ian, please, Miss Gallagher?" The nurse replied, her voice wavering slightly for a moment as she avoided Fiona's gaze. Ian now saw that the owner of the small voice was equally as petite as it, with blonde hair pulled up in to a harsh bun.

"So long as you're actually gonna' take care of him," Fiona stared at the nurse hard for a moment before turning on her heel and walking out of the room to questions of how Ian was from their siblings.

"Hello, Ian, how are you?" The nurse asked. Ian didn't know what she was thinking, so he just stared at her blankly. "Are you in any pain?" Ian nodded. "Where? And on a scale of one to ten," Ian told her, and she said that they would up his morphine dosage. She then took some bloods, checked his chest with a stethoscope, and recorded his heart rate from the monitor.

"Now, do you remember what happened? Why you're here, I mean." Ian shook his head, his memory drawing a blank. "No? Okay, well, you fell out of a window. Two storeys up. You broke three ribs, cracked two, punctured your left lung, and have some nasty bruising on your chest. You've also got two broken bones in your wrist, a broken middle finger. Both of your ankles were sprained, but they should be on the mend, so walking shouldn't be limited for too long, but again, a lot of bruising. But, you're lucky that the ambulance was pretty quick, so, as you can see, we've patched you up. We're gonna' keep you in until you're better. We're also gonna' do a psych evaluation, and then take things from there." The nurse seemed to be reading from a list, her finger trailing down the clipboard she held as she spoke at Ian in such a fast manner that he struggled to take everything in. "Is there anything else you'd like to ask me?" Very slowly, Ian shook his head, and she nodded in response "Well, someone will be round to check on you in an hour or so. Call someone if you need anything. I'll just sort your morphine and then I'll leave you to get some rest."

The nurse then left. He could hear her speaking to Fiona before his family came in to the room to see him again. "Now, guys, just remember not to overwhelm him, he's been in a coma for four days, remember," Fiona said as she took her place in the chair beside his bed again. "Go and get some chairs from the corridor, guys," she told their other siblings.

"Hey, man," Lip said when he'd brought a chair in and put it on the other side of his bed, his blue eyes glistening more than usual with tears of relief "how you doin'?"

"Yeah, all right. You guys? What'd I miss while I was away?"

Lip shook his head, replying "Nothing much, Frank upset Sheila, so we had him on the couch again for a week."

"I'm class president!" Debbie exclaimed with a grin that stretched across her face.

Ian couldn't help but grin himself, looking so much like his youngest sister when he did that. The pair of them definitely looked the most like they were related with their matching red hair that curled slightly and the spatter of freckles across their noses. Maybe the similarities which they shared so much in were one of the reasons he had such a soft spot for her.

"That's awesome, Debs! Come here," he told her, putting his arms out to invite her in for a hug. And then he noticed their youngest sibling wasn't with them. "Where's Liam?"

"He's staying with Vee and Kev, apparently he's been awesome at entertaining Gemma and Amy. Vee said he gets on so well with them," Debbie told him after she had returned Ian's hug.

"Ah, that sounds nice. Must be nice for the girls too. What about you, Carl? What have you vandalised? Break anyone's bones? What is it this time?" Ian asked his younger brother with a smirk.

Carl looked to Ian proudly, his eyes already telling Ian that whatever he ahd done had not been good, "Broke some kid's collar bone; got suspended for a week."

Ian laughed lightly, saying "Well, sounds like I missed a lot."

"Yeah," Fiona put in, "So, where did you go? Police said they found you in some abandoned warehouse two states over with loads of people,"

Ian rubbed a hand up the back of his neck. "Not really sure where I was, but I just remember having a really awesome time, made loads of friends. It was great," he cleared his throat before saying "I'm, uh, I'm pretty tired. You guys mind leaving me to get some sleep?"

The eldest of the Gallagher children nodded, saying "We'll come by and see you tomorrow morning, yeah?" The siblings stood up and said their goodbyes to their brother before leaving his room.

When it came to Fiona, Ian caught her hand and said "Do you, uh, do you know why the nurse said I gotta' have a psych evaluation?"

Fiona's face fell a little. "You… you haven't noticed, have you?"

Ian's face was full of confusion, his brow furrowed. "Noticed what?"

"I… I think… well, we think that, uh, you might… you might be following in Monica's footsteps a little… mentally…" Fiona looked down to her feet uncomfortably.

No. Ian was shaking his head vigorously "No. No, I'm not, Fiona. Why… why would you guys think that?"

"Ian, you know the nurse said that you fell out of a window?" Ian nodded slowly. "You didn't. Police told us that you jumped out. Yeah? You jumped out of a second storey window, from an abandoned warehouse, full of naked people surrounded by drugs. And you'd been away for nearly two weeks. And before that you slept for four days straight. Can you not see how that could kinda' look a little Monica-like?" Fiona took his hand, looking him in the eye earnestly.

"No. I can't. I'm just having a little fun. And I was tired. There's nothing wrong with that." Ian said, his voice firm.

"Ian, honey… you… you need he-"

"Don't tell me what I need!" Ian said, his voice louder, "Just leave. If you're gonna' be like this just don't bother coming again." He snatched his hand out of Fiona's and looked away from her, feeling his eyes brimming with angry tears as he face burned with as much.

Fiona tried to take his hand again, but Ian pulled even farther away from her, "Ian…"

"Get out, Fiona!" Ian didn't look at his sister as she left, he didn't want to see the look on her face.

The psych evaluation didn't go too well. When it came to it, Ian wasn't in a good state. The nurses tried to get him to cooperate for the evaluation, but all he did was lay in his bed with the covers up to his nose and stare blankly at the ceiling. Ian didn't know this, but he was suffering from a period of depression. He couldn't be given any medication until he was evaluated, and he was not going to be evaluated. He wasn't going to move if he could help it.

After two weeks, Ian finally seemed to return to his normal state, and he was begrudgingly evaluated. His siblings had been right, and he had inherited Monica's vicious disease. The worst part about it, though, was that Ian didn't believe it. He didn't believe what he was told, that he had bipolar disorder, because… well, he didn't. Like he told Fiona, he just had more fun some days than others. Of course, his denial didn't help his case, and tranquilisers were involved. A lot of tranquilisers were needed in order to medicate Ian, and then he was admitted to an institution for four weeks (which was questionable dependent upon his cooperation), by the law. He was tried without being present as the outcome was arguably obvious to anyone, and it was that he would be institutionalised and not sentenced for the breaking and entering, use of drugs, and demolition.

Ian still wasn't talking to his brothers and sisters, and was taken to the institute in an ambulance alone without seeing his siblings, only seeing the insides of the ambulance car that transported him there and the two nurses who were required to assist in his transfer.