Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Shameless.

Rating: M for sexual references (plus possible future smut), language, and violent acts.

Chapter 6

Ian stared at the ceiling as sleep continued to elude him. Ever since Mickey had been shot a few weeks ago Ian had been plagued by a bout of insomnia each and every night. Part of him wished that he had stayed behind with Mickey but the practical side of him had rejected that idea immediately. Had Ian stuck around there would have been many awkward questions and would most likely have outed everyone there. That would have resulted in Kash most likely getting in trouble for shooting Mickey in a rage, not to mention the little fact that Ian was a tad bit young to be having sex, never mind with his employer. At the very least Ian probably would have been hauled down to the station to answer some questions about the events that had transpired. Plus, Fiona would NEVER forgive him if Tony somehow 'saved' him and brought him home.

Ian sighed as he rolled over onto his side. He could hear Carl's almost silent breaths attesting to his ability to sleep fine and Lip's soft but audible snores gave the same answer. Night after night this same thing had happened and there was no apparent relief in sight. He wished he could understand the tangle of emotions that were swamping him. Ian had thought that he had been in love with Kash but it was nothing compared to what he felt for Mickey now. Ian had visited Mickey a few times in jail and despite the glass separating them there was a connection between them. Neither of them showed any overly overt sign of affection but each could tell that the dynamic of their relationship had changed. And it was all due to what Ian had almost said before leaving the Kash & Grab that fateful day.

Ian still couldn't believe that he had almost referred to Mickey as his boyfriend. Neither of them had ever discussed the particulars of their relationship except to comment on how they were each other's fuck buddy. While that had been fine at first Ian had slowly come to realize that he wanted, no, needed more than just sex. Sure, the sex was great but he wasn't just looking for the purely physical. He wanted to be able to be with a guy who could just be there for him. Despite the fact that Mickey's attitude towards him was changing they still were far from any kind of confirmed relationship.

Ian flipped over onto his stomach as he tried to find a position that he could pass out in. By this point he didn't have an ounce of strength in him. If he didn't get some sleep soon he'd probably just collapse somewhere and never get back up. He wished that he could get his hands on some sleeping pills but there were no more to be had. Lip had been able to get him some when Ian's insomnia first started up but those had gone fast. Ian would have asked for more but then Lip might have started worrying and the last thing he wanted was for his older brother to start digging into his life. Lip knew that Ian was gay but he didn't have a clue about Mickey not to mention the fact that Ian was still in turmoil over wondering who his real father was. His life was just shit right now and Lip couldn't help him out at all.

Ian groaned as he rolled back over onto his back. His mind was racing with thoughts and nothing seemed to be helping. Just as he was getting to the point where he couldn't handle it anymore he heard footsteps in the hallway outside his room. He twisted his head towards the door just as it slowly opened and revealed Fiona's head peeking in. Ian watched as she scanned the room quick and looked about ready to head back out when she noticed Ian staring back at her. She stared at him for a moment and then jerked her head to the side as a signal for Ian to follow her out.

Ian slipped out of his bed and grabbed a t-shirt to put on as he headed out to follow Fiona. Thankfully the cold spell had finally broken but that didn't mean that wearing just a pair of tight boxers was appropriate dress wear for late night discussions. Ian slid through the open door and silently shut it and headed downstairs. Once he was in the living room he saw that Fiona was sitting down on the coach watching him. She indicated a spot next to her and Ian went right over and took it.

For a moment nothing was said. Fiona seemed to ignore him as she stared off at the wall with a peculiar expression on her face. Ian felt the silence digging at him and was about to say something when Fiona said "Spill it."

Ian twitched slightly upon hearing that. He sat there for a moment and debated whether to lie and ask her what she meant or just let it out and tell her all of his troubles. Fiona must have sensed some of what was going on in Ian's head for she wrapped an arm around him and pulled him into a hug.

"Ian, its ok. Tony hasn't been banging down the door so obviously you haven't been caught doing something illegal and Lip hasn't mentioned anything out of the ordinary about the things you guys do that never gets found out so what has you in a funk? Is it about what we found out when Monica was here? Is it the craziness over at the Kash ad Grab? Just tell me. You and Lip help me keep everything together and if you fall apart this entire house will go insane."

Ian felt tears forming but willed them back down. He was not going to cry. He was way too tough for that. But he couldn't hold everything else back in too. So he told her. He told her about him being gay. He revealed the affair he had with Kash, Linda finding out, and everything she put Kash through. He explained about Mickey's thieving and what had resulted from it. He even told her about how finding out that Frank wasn't his father had filled him with hope and yet crushed him at the same time. By the end of it Ian was shaking from the outpour of emotions and didn't even register that Fiona hadn't said a word throughout his entire speech.

Shortly after Ian ran out of things to say he felt Fiona's arm tighten around him as she hugged him harder. Ian hugged her back for all that he was worth as she told him "Ian, I've known you were gay for a while. Don't think you EVER need to hide anything like that from me. You're my brother and nothing will ever change that. As for the affair with Kash all I have to say is don't do something like that again. As you have seen it hurts everyone involved and is just plain messy. It's why I don't go anywhere near the married men. And as for Mickey, well, if he makes you happy then stick with it. I always had my suspicions about him and it does kind of explain a lot of things. He won't be in jail for long and I'd sound like quite a hypocrite if I told you to stay away from felons."

Both of them smiled slightly as they both thought about Fiona's former relationship with Steve. It was former simply because Tony had found out that Steve's job involved stealing cars and this had forced Steve to flee the country. Ian was quite sure that Tony had given Steve that chance just so that Fiona wouldn't hate Tony forever. Regardless, Steve was gone and Fiona was moving on. Slowly.

Ian felt a small smile start to form as Fiona slowly untangled the two of them and sat up. Fiona gave him a little love smack and said "Now off to bed. You have work in the morning."

Ian stood up, feeling better than he had since Mickey had been arrested. Getting all that off his chest was unimaginably relieving and Fiona's reaction to everything was exactly what he needed. She didn't care one bit that Ian was gay, only that he was safe and happy. And that he learned his lesson from his previous fuck-ups.

As he headed upstairs Ian paused for a second, turned back at his eldest sister and said "Fiona, thank you."

"You're welcome Ian. Now, try and get some sleep"

The next morning Ian felt more refreshed than he had been in a long time. After talking to Fiona he had been able to fall to sleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. And while he hadn't gotten a full night's sleep he still had gotten more than his recent average and it had rejuvenated him quite a bit. He felt like he could do anything and left the house that day with a smile. Little did he know that he was simply in the eye of the storm and worse was yet to come.

Ian was halfway to the Kash & Grab when it happened. He hadn't been paying as close attention as he normally did on his walk over as he didn't see anyone around and figured that everyone was asleep on this early Saturday morning but he was disabused of this notion when he heard the rapid footsteps behind him. Ian turned to look at who was running up to him and was able to catch a glimpse of something gray and cylindrical heading for his head. Ian felt a spike of fear shoot through him an instant before the object struck him and sent a jolt of lightning through his body. After that he felt nothing.

"Debbie! Put Liam to bed. Lip clean the table. Carl, I swear if you try and electrocute one more of Debbie's dolls you'll be grounded for the rest of the year."

After shouting out all of her orders for the moment Fiona took a second to catch her breath. The Gallagher household was going through its normal routine for the night, which basically meant that all hell was breaking loose. It didn't help that Ian had apparently decided not to come home after work. At first she had assumed he was out with Mandy or possibly with another of his friends from school but as the hours raced by without any word from him Fiona had begun to get a little worried. By now she was torn between being pissed off that he wasn't home to worried that something might have happened.

As the various Gallagher children raced around doing their prep work for bed Fiona stole a moment to sneak onto the back porch and did something she never would have done had she not been as worried as she was. She called Tony.

After a few rings Fiona heard Tony say "Officer Markovitch"

"Tony, its Fiona. Ian hasn't been home yet and I'm getting a little worried. Can you just keep an eye out for him and call me if you run into him?"

After a few seconds Fiona heard Tony respond with "Well, I can't put out a missing persons report since it hasn't been 24 hours but yeah, I'll keep an eye out for him. I'm sure he's just out with friends or something."

Fiona smiled slightly and said "Thanks Tony, I appreciate it."

After hanging up Fiona headed back inside to find Veronica lounging on the couch. Upon seeing her best girl friend Veronica jumped up and said "Thank god we have tonight off. I mean, I love making money as much as the next girl but sometimes we just need to be able to relax. Got anything good to drink?"

Fiona waved towards the fridge and said "You can check but don't get your hopes up. Franks' been around and I'm quite sure he has cleaned us out."

"I thought he was living with Sheila now? Why the hell is he still coming around? You do keep the money locked up, right?"

Fiona chuckled for a moment before replying with "Trust me, I know better than to let that happen."

By now Veronica was checking out the fridge and upon finding a few beers gave out a small joyful yell. After popping of the tops of two of them she handed one to Fiona and the two of them proceeded to drink. They began discussing a variety of subjects, ranging from their love lives to money and finally onto the latest of Frank's crazy antics. Throughout it all Fiona continued to worry about Ian and Veronica couldn't help but notice it. When the conversation finally died down Veronica finally acknowledged the elephant in the room by asking "Honey, what's wrong?"

Fiona sat there for a second and was about to answer when she heard a knock at the front door. The knock was more of a rapid pounding and each additional knock sent a chill down Fiona's spine. Without saying a word she got up and slowly walked to the door, already feeling a sense of dread spreading throughout her body. When she finally got to the door she took a deep breath, attempted to calm her nerves, and opened the door.

Standing there with his fist already coming down to knock again was Tony. Behind him sat his cruiser with the lights flashing. With one look at his face Fiona felt something crumble inside of her. Her throat constricted and all sound vanished from her hearing except that of her heart. She saw Tony's lips move and knew he was saying something but she just couldn't understand him. All she could do was stare.

Fiona jumped slightly when Tony grabbed her arm and her hearing rushed back into place as he apparently said again "Fiona, we need to go. Now."

As she felt her throat constrict even more she gasped out "What? Where? Where's Ian Tony. What happened?"

A look of understanding passed across Tony's face as he realized that she had been too shocked earlier to comprehend earlier. He placed his hands on both of her shoulders to steady her and said "We need to go to the hospital now. They found Ian. It's not good."

Fiona felt tears fall down her face as she gripped Tony's uniform with both hands and yelled "What do you mean? Who found him? Where? WHAT HAPPENED TO IAN?"

Tony didn't say a word for a moment. He stood there as Fiona fought for air as she felt her world crumble. She was vaguely aware of Veronica telling her to go with Tony, that she would watch the kids until Fiona got back. Tony said something in response but Fiona couldn't hear it. Her mind was filled with horrific images of Ian hurt, wounded or in some other gruesome condition. She let herself be brought over to the police cruiser and be placed inside. Her mind continued to race as Tony let the siren blast as he drove fearlessly through the streets. When they pulled up to the hospital about 15 minutes later Fiona was still in shock and again forced tony to direct her to where she needed to go.

After walking around a few corridors they stopped outside of a set of doors. At first Fiona didn't know why they had stopped but as Tony began speaking to a receptionist sitting at a desk nearby she began to comprehend. The doors were locked and could only be opened by a hospital employee. The woman pushed a hidden button under her desk and the doors in front of Fiona swung open. The instant she could Fiona started walking through them and hopefully towards someone who could let her know what was going on.

Before she had gone more than a few feet Tony was again at her side directing her towards a specific room. Fiona felt bile begin to rise in her throat as she approached and for a second prayed that this was all a mistake. Or a joke. Or anything other than what it seemed to be. These thoughts were dashed the instant the sliding door to the room opened and she caught a glimpse at the person laying on the hospital bed with what seemed like a million wires and tubes connected to him.

Fiona froze where she was. She felt like someone had just punched her right in the gut. The room began to spin and she would have fallen had Tony not grabbed her and steadied her. He held her there for a few moments as she stared into the room and looked at what had been a perfectly healthy boy earlier today. Wires were connecting various parts of Ian's body to an assortment of machines and a mask covering his face apparently provided oxygen for him. A few of the machines made beeps as they monitored Ian's vitals and they at the least showed that Ian was still alive.

A hand was placed on her shoulder and had Fiona had it in her she would have jumped in response. As it was all she could do was tense slightly and twist her head a little to look at the person who had touched her. As she looked upon the woman next to her she took in the white coat and scrubs underneath and assumed it was a doctor. She leaned into Tony a little and found the strength to get herself back on her own two feet. Once she was steady the woman in front of her said "My name is Dr. Amelia Long and I am in charge of your brother's case."

Fiona nodded slightly and asked "What happened to Ian?"

The woman glanced around for a second and then ushered Fiona into Ian's room. Tony remained outside but gave her a look of sympathy before closing the sliding door. The drawn blinds prevented anyone else from seeing anything that was going on in the room.

Once the door was shut Dr. Long said "Ian was brought in earlier today with injuries consistent with a prolonged beating. We would have notified you earlier but upon his arrival Ian was unconscious and without any identification. We only became aware of his identity when Officer Markovitch contacted us and gave us a description."

Fiona stared at the doctor and tried to find something to say. The words escaped her though and Dr. Long seemed to realize this. She gave Fiona a sympathetic look and continued with "His condition is stable at the moment. We were forced to put him into a medically induced coma though to prevent swelling and unfortunately we will not know what kind of condition his mind is in until he wakes up. There is also one other thing."

Fiona stared at the doctor and wondered what else could have happened to her poor brother. As the silence began to stretch on Fiona quietly asked "What. What else could have happened to him?"

Dr. Long glanced over at Ian and then quietly said "There are also signs that Ian had sex at some point around the time of the attack."

Fiona didn't breath for a second. She stared hard at her brother and felt like collapsing. She didn't know what to do. It was bad enough to know Ian almost died today but from what Dr. Long had insinuated it was so much worse than she could ever have believed. Tears started flowing freely down her face as she whispered "Oh Ian…"

Dr. Long placed a hand on Fiona's shoulder and said "I have to make my rounds but I'll be back to discuss everything in greater detail with you."

Fiona nodded vaguely and took a seat by Ian's bedside and let the tears flow. When Tony walked over to her she grabbed him and began sobbing. Tony wrapped his arms around her and held her while she completely broke down.

Author's note: Don't worry, Ian will live. I know this chapter was a tad intense, but I do hope you all will still enjoy it.

Also, I have realized that this story is technically in the wrong category. My bad. When I upload chapter 7 I will switch it over to the Shameless 2011 section. Just wanted to let you guys and gals know.