Disclaimer: I still don't own Shameless.
A/N: I was nervous that I may have lost a few of you because of my infrequent updates, but it looks like you guys are still enjoying it. Thanks again to all of you who have reviewed, followed, and favorited this!
Changed-Chapter 14
Lip is passed the chatting drunken phase. But then again he's been drinking for four hours already. He skipped right over the laughing phase because really what is there to laugh about? He even breezed right through the anger phase because he already been there and done that going after fucking Ned in the hospital, taking both Mandy and Fiona to pry him away from the douchebag. He's definitely can't do the crying phase. Not because he's never been a crier, the last time that he cried was when he was old enough to barely remember. Probably back when Monica left for the first time. But, sadly in all actuality he has the right to cry now. He chugs from the bottle of vodka. His brother is dying. He's lying in the hospital with his skull cracked open and is only clinging to life because of huge advances in the neurosurgery field over the last twenty years.
Part of him wants to lie down in the fetal position and just bawl his eyes out until his body falls into an exhausted sleep. Where he doesn't dream about the 'what if's.' Where he tells Ian to stay home and smoke with him and Mandy and not to go out with Ned. Or the one where Ned insisted on giving Ian a ride home.
The worst of the 'what if's' is the one where Ian doesn't make it. That he loses his fragile grasp on life and dies. With their mother and the boy who has completely wrecked him nowhere in sight. And that 'what if' is by far the scariest because it can very well still happen. The pressure in Ian's head has gone down some, but it's still not where the doctors want it. And the doctors don't know shit. Another gulp of booze. They have no idea what damage Jake Fisher and the other assholes' steel-toed boots had on Ian. Is he gonna wake up with a blank slate of what happened that night but be fine otherwise? Is he gonna be a damn vegetable and never wake up? Another chug of booze. Or is Ian's brain gonna be so damaged that cognitively he would be on the same page as Liam? Fuck. Another drink.
But, he can't dwell on the what if's and Lip most certainly can't cry, so he takes another long sip of booze. He knows damn well if he starts crying, he's not gonna stop. And what good would that do? It definitely won't help when Carl and Debbie keep asking what's going on with Ian because all they know is that he's hurt bad. And is sure as hell won't help Ian right now.
So, no Lip is definitely skipping the crying like a baby phase of drunkenness. He's perfectly content with the falling down, slob drunk phase that he's currently in. It's late, the kids are in bed after another night of late dinner and a relentless barrage of questions such as "What happened?", "Who did it?", "When can we see him?"
The air is biting, it has been since the cold front came though the morning after Ian landed in the hospital five days ago. But Lip would gladly take the chill over the stifling combination of sadness and despair that has taken residence at the Gallagher house as of late.
"Shit!" Lip curses as he drops the lighter as he attempts to light a cigarette and hold the quickly bottle of vodka at the same time.
"Hey, can I have some or are you gonna finish that all by yourself?"
Lip inhales the soothing nicotine as he looks to see Mandy walking up the stairs. He shrugs but still offers her the bottle. Mandy takes a large gulp of the cheap booze and doesn't even flinch at the taste. But, then again just like the Gallagher's, the Milkoviches don't discriminate against booze. Booze is booze.
After a decent amount of silence passes between the two, Mandy breaks in "Anything about Ian?"
The mean, vindictive part of Lip wants to tell Mandy to fuck off. That it's her brother's fault this happened. If Mickey didn't treat Ian like a piece of shit then Ian wouldn't have jumped at the chance to meet up with Jimmy's father. But, Lip knows that it would be wrong. He knows what it's like to take the brunt of someone's anger because of something their family member did. He and his siblings had to face that countless times because of freaken Frank. It's not fair to Mandy. Mandy is Ian's best friend and knows that this is killing her as well. Another sip.
Lip shakes his head, "Nothin' new. Jimmy and Fiona is at the hospital now. I came home to put the kids to bed."
Mandy takes a seat next to him on the weathered step. "He's gonna be okay."
Lip can't help but laugh. Really?! He's going to be fine? Mandy's been one of the few allowed to go in and see Ian. She's seen the endless bandages, tubes, and monitors. The absence of his brother's hair because they had to shave it for the craniectomy. She had to have seen the way the bruises and cuts covered up the freckles that dotted his younger brother's face. The Ian in that sterile, hospital bed is anything but okay. Another chug of alcohol.
"Hey!" Mandy yells as she tries to get the bottle from him. "Slow down!"
But, Lip is done listening. All he has been doing is listening. Listening to the doctors ramble on about brain injuries and their statistics. He's done listening to Ned's sorry ass excuses and as to why he didn't make sure Ian got to the EL okay. He's tired of listening to the assholes who make their snide comments about Ian as he walks through the Southside. And he's certainly not listening to Mandy right now as she tries to curb his alcohol intake.
"Fuck off!" He bites back.
"What the fuck is your problem?!" Mandy yells. "You think that you're the only one hurting here? We all love Ian. We all want him to get better."
Lip ignores his girlfriend's outburst as he takes another chug.
"Fine," Mandy huffs as she stands up. "Call me when you want to talk. No, wait. Call me when you're sober. I'm outta here. If I wanted to watch someone get shitfaced I would have stayed home. Mickey's been on one helluva bender the last two days."
The mentioning of Mickey brings Lip's attention away from the bottle of vodka. "Fuck Mickey."
Mandy rolls her eyes as she starts to walk down the stairs.
"Oh wait, Ian does." Lip slurs.
"What the fuck did you just say?" Mandy asks as she turns around to face a smirking Lip.
"They've been fucking for years! All that time you were Ian's beard, he was fucking your brother."
Lip's eyes are glazed and his words are slurred, but Mandy knows he's telling the truth. You don't joke around about something like that in their neighborhood. Ian was proof of that.
"What the fuck?"
"That's right. Mickey Milkovich, son of famed fag basher Terry Milkovich is a fag himself."
Mandy takes a seat once again on the stoop and grabs the nearly empty bottle of vodka. "Fuck me."
"All those times when Ian was moping around because mystery guy was acting like a douche, that was Mickey. The reason why Ian decided to go out with Ned, the same night he got his head bashed in? That's because of Mickey and his damn mixed signals. Fucking Angie Zago or Jen Kerrigan one minute and then meeting up with Ian in the store's cooler an hour later to bang. He had Ian's head so fucked up."
Mandy doesn't say anything, she's letting everything process. Part of her wants to tell Lip to shut up. That he doesn't know what he's talking about. But, the part of her that knows Mickey. Knows how out of sorts he's been over the last couple of days, since Ian landed in the hospital, tells her that Lip is right.
"Hey do you—"Mandy starts to ask Lip but stops when she sees that he's passed out.
"Shit," she curses as she drinks the last of the vodka. What the hell is she gonna do?
Chapter 15 Options:
1. Mandy confronts Mickey of what she found out.
2. New Year's Eve and Ian is stuck in the hospital until he gets a reprieve.