Note To Readers- This chapter is going to be a little shitty, but if I have time later I will be writing and uploading the next chapter and it should be a lot better. -Alayna

When Mickey got home, he decided to take a nap, he was fucking exhausted; he had only slept a few hours at the hospital.

He only slept for two hours.

It was two thirty.

Fuck.

His 'skype date' with Ian was in a ten minutes.

He lit a cigarette and grabbed his laptop.

He needed to piss, he ran to the bathroom; when he got back he had just under two minutes.

Ten minutes later he was lost in conversation with Ian.

"Shit. I forgot to tell you, Mandy had the baby last night." Mickey couldn't believe he hadn't forgotten to tell Ian about Caci; she was all he could think about, until he saw the red-head's face.

"Really? Isn't she early? Is she okay?" The kid looked worried.

"Yea, she's fine. Name's Acacia, Caci. She's fucking adorable." Shit, Mickey hadn't meant to say that out loud. Ian actually fucking said 'Aw' at Mickey, that made him want to punch the kid in the face.

"Don't get all fucking soft on me Gallagher. But uh..I got some pictures of her, if you want me to send 'em to you." The familiar wide grin spread across Ian's face, and for once, he didn't look so upset, he actually looked happy.

"Yea, I want 'em. Does she look like Lip? I hope she doesn't, Lip's my brother and all but he's fucking ugly." Mickey laughed.

"She looks more like Mandy, but her nose kinda looks more like Lip's. I feel bad for her." Ian laughed at that.

Mickey was glad he could make Ian laugh; he had doubts, even though he talked to the kid every week he felt like he wasn't-good enough for the kid or something. He felt like everything was different; like he wouldn't know how to make Gallagher laugh, or how to touch him to make him feel good, or how to treat the kid like he was the most precious thing in the entire world, without looking like a complete fag.

"So Mick, how've you been doing?"

Fuck. Mickey had been hoping that Ian wouldn't ask that, but he knew the kid would, he always did.

"Uh, fine." That wasn't true, Mickey was far from fine.

"Okay, that's good." Ian looked skeptical; Mickey knew that he didn't believe him, why the fuck should he? Mickey was usually a really good liar, but lately he had been slipping, at least when he tried to lie to the red-head.

"I've been doing okay, getting kinda excited, only a couple months and I'll be coming home." Mickey's jaw clenched. He couldn't wait for those months to be over; at the same time, he was fucking terrified of those months ending. He was afraid of Ian coming home; it was the what he wanted, but he didn't know if he would be able to handle it. He still constantly had dreams about Ian and a family and shit that Mickey didn't want to deal with.

Shit that he wanted but was afraid to have.

"Yea, well don't expect me to be all fucking girly and scream and run to you when I pick you up." Ian laughed.

"I know you won't act like that. I don't expect it. Actually I'm expecting you to punch me or something." Mickey rose an eyebrow and cocked his head to the left a bit.

"Why would I hit you Gallagher? Do something I should be pissed off about?" Mickey ran his tongue across his bottom lip, then followed it with his thumb.

Ian rapidly shook his head.

"Fuck no. What would I do over here? Fuck some sand instead of your ass?" Mickey snorted.

"Fuck sand? Really Gallagher? That's about the stupidest thing I've ever fucking heard."

Ian just grinned at him; he couldn't help but smile back.

"I know we haven't talked about it before but you know, if you have fucked some-" Mickey interrupted him.

"We aren't having this fucking conversation." Had Ian gone fucking crazy? Why the fuck would he think Mickey wanted to talk about that?

"But Mick, if you have or you want to, I really don't care." Ian was starting to piss Mickey off.

"I said we aren't having this conversation."

"But-"

"No."

"I know you're fucking someone else, I just hope you stop once I'm back." Mickey almost, almost punched the computer screen.

"I AIN'T FUCKING ANYONE, I DON'T WANT TO FUCK ANYONE!" Mickey was yelling; as soon as the words left his mouth, he wanted to punch himself. Why the fuck did he just tell Gallagher that he wasn't fucking anyone else and that he didn't want to fuck anyone else? Fuck.

"What?" Ian actually seemed surprised.

"Exactly what I fucking said. I didn't stutter." The words came out as barely a whisper.

Ian didn't say anything for a few minutes, neither did Mickey.

"I gotta go Mick. My times almost up." Mickey stayed silent but nodded; the kid could see him so why did he need to talk.

"I love Mickey." Again Mickey nodded. Mickey wanted to say it back, he wanted to tell Ian that he loved him; but he hadn't said those words out loud in so long, he didn't know if he would be able to. But he had to do it, he just had to.

"I love you too." He didn't yell but it felt like he did.

Ian smiled at him and then his face disappeared.

Mickey wished he had more time to talk to him; but he only had a couple months until he would get to see the kid, face to face.

Mickey lit another cigarette, the one he had lit before talking to Ian had long ago burnt out in the ashtray; wasted.

Second Note To Readers- Let me know what you thought. I'm sorry that it's pretty short, but I didn't really know how to make this chapter longer, plus I really want to get to the next chapter but I needed to have Mickey talk to Ian first. -Alayna