Disclaimer: I don't own Shameless.
A/N: So now that the hiatus has started I guess reruns and fan fiction are all we have until January, uggh! So with that said, here's the next chapter.
Changed-Chapter 4
"Yo! Gallagher! Wait up!"
Lip turns around to see Mickey Milkovich walking towards him. "What's up, Mickey?"
"You have that tablet thingy?" Mickey asks as he catches up with the blonde and they continue walking to the Gallagher house.
"Yeah, I have it in my bag." Lip says motioning to his backpack. "You want it now?"
Mickey shakes his head. "Nah. Debs made Ian cookies. Told her that I would stop by and bring them to him since she can't get over there until the weekend."
"How fucking precious," Lip says with a smirk.
"Shud up," Mickey drawls as they make their way up the back steps to the Gallagher house.
Fiona shouting welcomes the two of them as soon as they walk in. He instantly recognizes Frank, but draws a blank as to who the blonde woman is in the kitchen.
"—Can't do that! The doctors said that any kind of disruption to his routine can make things worse."
"Jesus Christ!" Lip exclaims.
"Who the fuck is that?!" Mickey asks when he sees who Fiona is yelling at. Who the fuck is the doe eyed blonde bitch at Frank's side?
"Mickey meet our flaky mother who decided to come back and see Ian," Fiona barks with a venom laced voice.
"Oh... Mickey?" The blonde says with a smile. "You're the boy that was in Juvie right?"
Mickey shakes his head. What the fuck is this crazy bitch talking about? Then it clicks. All those times when he pretended like he wasn't paying attention when Ian was talking about his family. This is Ian's mother. The same mother who left the Gallagher kids more times than he can count. The mother who came back with her lesbian girl friend to try and take away Ian's little brother. The same Monica Gallagher who cut her wrists in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner. The same woman who was nowhere to be found despite Lip and Fiona moving hell and earth to find her when it looked like Gallagher wasn't going to make it.
"Ian cares about you so much," Monica says looking at Mickey.
"Shut up!" Mickey yells. "Just shut up! You don't have the right to say that shit."
"Yeah, Monica. We're not talking about that." Fiona says.
"Yeah, let's talk about how you were nowhere to be fucking found when Ian was dying," Lip lashes out angrily.
"I understand that. But, I'm here now," Monica says tearfully.
"Save it! You said that before," Fiona yells.
Mickey remains quiet. Letting the scene in front of him unfold. He guesses Ian was right. He was better off with his mother dead.
"She's his mother," Frank speaks for the first time, taking a drink from his beer.
"And you!" Fiona sneers getting in her father's face. "You knew how desperate we were to find her. The doctors didn't think he was going to make it. Obviously you knew how to get a hold of her and still you said shit."
"Hey! I told her what happened. She said to call her when things calmed down," Frank defends himself.
Lip snickers as Mickey bites out, "You fucking kidding me?"
"I knew I couldn't handle seeing him like that!" Monica cries.
Fiona scoffs. "And you think that we could. That we wanted to see him breathing on a respirator. That we enjoyed seeing him with a chunk of his skull missing. It was a real fucking blast watching him have three seizures in a day," Fiona laughs sarcastically. "But, we did it. Because we're fucking family! You don't run out on family!"
"You two just keep doing what you do best. Stay gone. We've got this." Lip says pointing to himself, Fiona, and much to the ex-con's surprise Mickey.
Knowing that her pleas will fall on death ears with her oldest son, Monica turns to Fiona. "I know that I've been a terrible mother. But talking from one mother to another, please just let me see him. Let me see how he's doing," she begs desperately.
Both Mickey and Lip can see Fiona's resolve starting to fade as Monica begins to cry, pleading to see Ian.
"No fucking way that's gonna happen," Mickey says.
"You're not fucking family," Frank bites back at the ex-con.
"He might not be, but he has earned his place here. More than we can say about the two of you!" Lip growls. "You went to visit him what once? STAY. THE. FUCK. AWAY!"
"Lip!"Fiona yells.
"Fi, don't tell me that you're actually gonna give in to this bullshit? Ian can't afford a setback. He's doing so well. And you know damn well that seeing her is only going to fuck with him."
"Lip!" Fiona yells again, this time louder.
Lip feels a sharp elbow in his ribs. He turns to Mickey. "What the fuck man?!"
Mickey tilts his head to the side towards the living room. In the heat of unleashing his anger at his parents he didn't even hear Debs and Carl come in. Shit.
"Monica?"
"Mom?" The two younger Gallagher's ask quietly.
Mickey expects the two of them to run into their mother's arms. They are kids after all and she has been gone for way too long. But, surprisingly they don't. They know way too much for their age. They know that Monica and Frank are too selfish to be parents. And that despite the fact that they are still kids, they have come to rely on their older siblings more so than their biological parents. They know not to fall for their bullshit.
"Why are you here?" Debbie asks bitterly.
"I came to see you guys," Monica says with a smile, wiping away her tears with her sleeve. She opens her arms for a hug. But Debbie and Carl don't move. "I came to see how Ian's doing."
"Why?" Carl says. "Why didn't you come before when things were really bad?"
"She's here now," Frank says like that's all that matters. Like years of neglect can be made by that one simple phrase.
"Yeah. Too little, too late." Debbie says with a roll of her eyes.
Not being able to take anymore of the Gallagher family soap opera, Mickey says. "Listen, I'll let you guys hatch your shit out. I'm gonna get going. Told Ian that I'll stop by today."
He turns to leave to let the Gallagher's continue to bicker when Debbie calls him, "Mickey?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I come with you to see him?"
"Me too?" Carl asks.
Shit. Two Gallagher's tagging along is the last thing he wants, but the sad looks on their faces dig a little bit at him. If Ian was there he'd laugh and call him a fucking pussy. But, then again a lot of things have changed that fateful night almost three months ago. He turns to Fiona looking at her eyes for permission.
"Fine, you guys can go. But, don't be too late." Fiona says as she hands Debbie a plastic bag that is filled with things for Ian. "And don't say anything to him about her being here," Fiona says softly referring to their mother.
Frank scoffs and utters "Unfucking believable."
Ignoring her father's protests and her mother's sad eyes, she continues "Ian has had a good couple of days. Don't want him to have a setback."
Lip hands Mickey the tablet that Ned got for Ian. It has some apps on it that the redhead's occupational therapist said would help him."Thanks, man for getting them out of here."
Mickey nods his head and the three of them quickly leave the house. Just mere seconds after Carl closes the back door, yelling and curses can be heard again. Mickey sighs, but the two Gallagher's don't seem fazed by it in the slightest. They're far too used to it.
"I hope Ian likes the cookies I made," Debbie says breaking the awkward silence as they make their way down the road to the EL.
"Do they have nuts in them?" Carl asks.
"Yeah. Why?" Debbie asks confused.
"As long as they have nuts in them, I bet he'll love them," Carl says grinning at Mickey.
Mickey rolls his eyes at the teenager's lame ass joke, "Shut up fuckwad."
Carl just laughs as the trio continue walking down the street.