Part Seven: Family Knows Best

I debate telling Fiona all day about being gay and Mickey Milkovich. It's on the tip of my tongue, when Debs comes in telling about Monica being back. We all head over to Sheila's where Monica is arguing with Frank.

Sheila tells Monica she owes us an apology. I don't want to hear it. Fiona is having none of it. She starts in on what she's done for us since she took over the family. I feel like I owe Fiona a lot and I will never be able to repay her. She raised me, took care of me, and loved me. That's all I could ever ask for.

Then Monica drops a bomb shell on us. She wants to take Liam. OVER MY DEAD BODY! Liam is my brother. He's stays with us. I can't deal with this right now.

"You can't take him," I say standing up to her. Fiona and Lip look at me. I usually don't give my opinions on this shit. That's Lip's job. But I've had it with everything.

"Ian, baby," says Monica.

"Don't baby me. You left us."

She tries to pet me and show me affection, but I back away. I turn around and run out the door. Her fat girlfriend is chuckling like it's the funniest thing she's ever seen. I hear her mutter something about me, but I don't linger to hear it.

I run down the street as fast as I can. I have to be at work and I'm just sick of Monica and Frank coming back into my life. I knock on Mickey's door. Thankfully he answers. It takes every ounce of my will power not to hug him.

"I need to see you," I say sounding on the verge of tears. Mickey's breath catches.

"Aren't you working today?"

"I'm supposed to be there now. Linda's going to kill me."

"I'll meet you there in twenty minutes."

I run to work. And like clockwork Mickey shows up after twenty minutes. I lock the door and go into the back room with him. I start stripping and he holds his "fuck" hand to my chest.

"Wait. What's going on?"

"Monica's back and she wants to take Liam away with her and her stupid girlfriend."

"Your mom's gay?"

"Bisexual I think. Are we going to do this or not?"

"Hang on. Are you okay? You seem a little frantic. You need to calm down."

"She wants to destroy my family."

"What's Lip think?"

"Look, Mickey, we can talk about this later, please."

"No. Not until we talk it out. You aren't fucking me while you're this worked up."

Mickey makes me tell him everything. He gets me calmed down. I smile at him while we talk and he actually looks in my eyes for once. When I feel better he starts to undress himself. I turn him around and we go at it like little gay bunnies.

"Ian, guess what, Linda's knocked up!" says Kash opening the door on me and Mickey. Mickey pulls up his pants and runs out quickly. Kash stares at me. "How long has this been going on?"

I don't answer. I don't owe him one.

Mickey comes back in. I know he's going to cause trouble and I want to stop it. He and Kash exchange words and I hear gun shots. Holy shit. What the fuck? Mickey is lying on the floor with a bullet in his leg and it's all Kash's fault. I kneel beside Mickey and hold his head. He looks in my eyes for a second before screaming, "YOU FUCKING SUCK!" to Kash. If Mickey wasn't bleeding I would have laughed.

After the ambulance comes and takes Mickey away I call Mandy and tell her about it, not about the sex or anything, but about Mickey being shot and going to juvie. He wouldn't have gone to juvie if he just admitted Kash caught us fucking and shot him out of jealousy, but Mickey wouldn't do that.

I glare at Kash as we lock up for the night. He looks right through me.

"Just so we're clear, it's over," says Kash.

"It was over weeks ago," I say casually. I don't look at him. I stare down the street in the direction the ambulance took Mickey.

"I can take you home," says Kash.

"No thanks."

I start walking. I don't want anything to do with Kash anymore. We're done. He has a family he needs to take care of. I can't believe I ever slept with a married man. I collapse on my bed with my face down. After what feels like an hour I feel someone rubbing my back. I turn over to see Lip sitting on the side of my bed holding a mug of something steaming and giving me an apologetic look. I sit up.

"I have an idea," says Lip. "Let's trail Monica and Bob tomorrow. We need to make sure they're not up to something."

I nod. Lip gives me the hot beverage. He rubs my back again and I smile. Lip always knew how to make me feel better when I was down. I think I'm going to tell him about Mickey, just not tonight.

We follow Bob and Monica all day. They have a DNA test done to prove that Liam is not Frank's. Which I'm sure he is. I like to believe the rumor that Nana Gallagher had an affair. Mostly, if he's Frank then Monica can't take him away.

While sitting in the car waiting I tell Lip, "Mickey's gay and we're doing it. Kash shot Mickey because of me. But Mickey would rather go to Juvie than admit he's gay. So I'm doing both Kash and Mickey. Well, not so much Kash lately. But when Kash and me were really hot and heavy Linda found out and is black mailing Kash into having another kid."

"Holy shit," says Lip.

"Now you know, just Mickey's on the down low," I say.

"I never would have thought," Lip says.

"Me either. He's pretty good," I say. Lip smirks.

"Is he a…"

"I can't tell you," I say.

"Jesus. That's why you've been smiling lately. I just figured Kash got really good in bed all of a sudden."

Lip gets the genius idea to have our DNA tested to make sure we really are Frank Gallagher's sons. Lip desperately wants the test to say he isn't. He wants away from Frank. As for me, I don't really care. I never felt connected to Frank. He's a cockroach. That's all he's ever been.

It's a few days before we get our results. Lip tells me over dinner with the family, Steve, and Bob that Frank Gallagher is not my family. As much I didn't care, it kind of hurts knowing that these faces around me: Fiona, Lip, Debbie, Carl, Liam are not my full blooded siblings. They're my half-siblings. Knowing that hurts a lot.

I want to run to Mickey. But I can't. I have nowhere to go. Mickey's gone and it's my fault, and now I don't have him to run to when I need comfort. Instead, I slink upstairs. I think about how unaffected Frank was about hearing that I'm not his. He didn't care.

"Hey," says Fiona, sitting down beside me on my bed.

"Hey," I say fighting back a sniffle that wants to come out.

"You're my brother. No fucking test is going to tell me any differently. You're part of this family, Ian. Not someone's elses. I love you," says Fiona putting her arms around me and hugging me until I squeak.

"He didn't care," I say, letting out the sniffle and a second follows it.

"No, he didn't. Frank doesn't give a shit about any of us."

"I'm not calling him dad ever again," I tell Fiona.

She rubs my shoulders and plants a kiss in my hair.

"I respect that. Just call him Frank, or don't talk to him at all, I don't care either way. He's no longer welcome in this house, I'll tell you that much. Come stay at Steve's tonight."

"Okay," I say. Fiona gives me another squeeze. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."