Rae drove as fast as she could, her foot never letting up on the gas. She turned into Boystown so hastily, she nearly hit a couple as they went to cross the main street. Rae cursed under her breath before she parked the van and headed down the busy strip in search of Ruby, who had sent her an urgent text only an hour prior.

"Fucking redheads!" Ruby huffed as he ran up to Rae, catching her off guard. "You still lookin' for tall, red and AWOL?"
"Ian, yes!" Rae said, a huge rush of relief washing over her. "You found him?"
"Fucker broke my phone after I texted you," he grumbled. "He's fucked up, Rae, you sure you're lookin' for a kid with freckles? He's goin' by Curtis around here."
"Yeah, freckles, decent build, looks way too young for this place?" Rae said, describing Ian for the millionth time. "I showed you pictures, dipshit."
"I know," Ruby nodded. "C'mon, he's this way."

Ruby led the way through a crowd before turning down a dark alley. The music from the club still echoed, but Rae could see that the alley was mostly deserted.

"Some old dude had him when I left to find you," Ruby said hesitantly. "I didn't know what else to do. Good luck, babe, I'm not stickin' around to see you wrestle this kid into your van."
"Thanks Ruby, I owe you," Rae said as she hurried down the alley. After a couple minutes, she located Ian huddled next to dumpster, his hair matted to his forehead, his body trembling against the icy wind.

"Jesus, Ian," Rae murmured. She knelt next to him and nudged him gently. He didn't stir. That was when panic set in. Rae looked around and realized that she didn't have anything on her to protect herself. She stood over Ian protectively before calling Mickey, explaining in as little words as possible where to find them.

Within the hour, Mickey's footsteps came rushing down the alley. Rae had shrugged off her jacket and wrapped it around Ian, who was still in and out of consciousness. He shivered violently against her side the entire time. Rae was frozen to the bone but she didn't care. As soon as she saw Mickey, she whistled loudly, calling attention to where they were hidden, wedged between two dumpsters.

"Fucking Christ," Mickey nearly moaned when he saw Ian. He collapsed next to him, pulling the redhead into his arms, his eyes glossing over. "The fuck happened?"
"My guy said he's on a lot of shit," Rae said carefully. "Mick, we can't take him home like this."
"No shit," Mickey said softly, not caring that Rae was staring at him as he gently rubbed Ian's cheek. "He's fucking freezing."
"Not the only one," Rae muttered. "C'mon, the van's two blocks away, we gotta get him out of this alley."
"Fuck," Mickey muttered. They spent a few minutes trying to get Ian on his feet with no avail. After a desperate attempt to steady him, they managed to shift him between them and make the painfully longer than necessary trek back to the van. As soon as Mickey got Ian in the backseat, Rae turned the heat up full blast, her finger tips frozen.

"He's breathing, right?" Rae asked, looking over her shoulder. She rubbed the chill from her arms in a weak attempt to warm up. "Mickey?"
"Yeah, yeah, he's breathing," Mickey said softly. "Thank you, Raelyn, thank you," Mickey said. Rae couldn't remember the last time she heard Mickey thank someone. She turned to face him, only then aware of the tears that were streaming down his face.
"We're even," Rae said softly. "You really love him, huh?"
"Shut up and drive," Mickey growled, but his tone had no bite. Rae smiled before turning her attention to the road.


Three days later, Rae was sitting in the van, waiting patiently for Ian to work up the courage to walk inside. Svetlana had made it perfectly clear that Ian couldn't stay with Mickey, which definitely meant Rae had to finally admit to Lip that she helped in Ian's rescue mission.

"So, Lip's still pissed at Fiona?" Ian asked for the millionth time, still stalling.
"Yes, now can we please go inside? My tanks running on empty and if I need to freeze my ass off for another second, I'm going to beat the fuck out of you," Rae grumbled. She was in a crappy mood. Her job at the gas station fell through, so she was back at square one. It didn't help that the state was threatening to take the kids again, thanks to Melody and Rick both being in jail and Rae being out of the house most days.
"Okay, okay," Ian muttered. He shoved open the passenger side door, still hesitating.
"They missed the fuck out of you, Ian," Rae said softly. "Go on, c'mon, let's get inside."
"Why are you doing this? You don't even know me," Ian asked, the same question he'd asked a hundred times in the three days he was at Mickey's.
"Because Mickey's like family and he has a thing for you," Rae said stubbornly. "And I happen to have a thing for your brother. So let's get this over with, please." She shoved him out of the van before sliding out after him, the driver's side door frozen shut from the icy Chicago weather.

As soon as they entered the house, Fiona jumped up from the couch, her eyes wide when she saw Ian.

"Ian!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. "Where have you been?"

Rae left the two to catch up while she wandered into the kitchen and pulled out a couple cans of soup. She hadn't told Lip about anything yet, so she figured the least she could do for going ghost on him was make sure he didn't have to worry about dinner. Rae busied herself until Fiona came into the kitchen, a relieved, yet sad look on her face.

"So I'm not on house arrest anymore," she said softly, giving Rae a genuine smile. "And thank you."
"For what?" Rae asked, stirring the soup idly. She wasn't sure why people kept thanking her.
"For bringing him home," she said, giving the younger woman a hug. "Ian told me you had a friend find him. That you'd been looking for him for months."
"Perks of knowing people all over," Rae shrugged. "I'm just glad he's safe now."
"Me too, god, me too," Fiona said, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "Raelyn, you're a godsend, you know that?"
"I'm really not," Rae scoffed, heat creeping up her cheeks. "Taking care of people, drowning my problems by helping others, it's how I cope." As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted it. Fiona gave her a troubled look and pushed her towards the table.
"What's going on?" she demanded. Rae could lie better than most, but Fiona had that motherly tone about her that made Rae spill everything without even thinking. After she told Fiona about everything that was going on in her life, she wasn't the least bit surprised when the fierce brunette pulled her in for a tight hug.

"You'll figure it out, you're like Lip, you're smart. You'll figure it out," she said softly. Rae wasn't aware she was crying until Fiona's fingers brushed the tears from her cheeks. "One thing at a time, okay?"
"I'm not fighting with the state anymore," Rae said suddenly, causing Fiona's hand to freeze on her cheek. "I can't. I don't have a job, I'm still couch surfing and god knows I can't raise those kids on my own anymore. Mitch wants to leave – he got offered a job in Detroit. I can't raise five kids alone at twenty."
"Sure you can," Fiona said. For her, the thought of ever letting the state take her siblings was unheard of. She fought tooth and nail to keep them under her roof for as long as she could remember. "You don't turn your back on family."
"I'm not saying that," Rae said softly. She looked at the floor, tears in her eyes. "I'm saying I can't keep them safe anymore. I don't have it in me to keep going like this. Nikki, Jayson, Al, they're all so little still. They could get into great homes. Beth only has two years before she ages out, and Jayson…well I can fight for them. I can keep the two of them out of state homes if I fight hard enough. But the little ones…I'll be almost forty by the time Nikki turns 18. I…" Rae couldn't explain it to Fiona. Fiona was in a similar boat, but there was a big enough gap between Carl and Liam that she only had to really worry about Liam anymore. Rae didn't have that luxury.
"Here I thought you were like us," Fiona said bitterly. Rae froze at her tone. "You should go."
"Coming from the bitch who let her baby brother get into a bag of coke!" Rae shot back, shoving herself away from the table. Just as all this unfolded, Lip walked in with Liam on his hip. Lip froze when he saw his sister and his friend squaring off, both of them now standing nose to nose.

"What did you just say?" Fiona growled.
"You don't get to judge me, Fiona. You have no fucking idea what I go through for them, all of them, on a daily basis!" Rae screamed, this time, her hands balling into fists.
"Your ass I don't," Fiona shot back angrily. Fiona was about to lunge at the smaller woman, but Rae backed away, her better judgement keeping her from lashing out.
"Not gonna have that on my conscious," Rae said carefully. "I'm not going to be the reason you violate your probation."

She shoved past Lip and left without another word. Lip stared at his sister with a mix of disgust and confusion on his face. Fiona glared at the door Rae had just walked through, hot tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. She blinked back the tears before looking at her younger brother.

"She's no better than the Milkovich's," Fiona growled before motioning towards the stairs. "Ian's home."

Lip stared towards the stairs but didn't move. He had no idea what had just happened, but he was torn between seeing his brother, chewing his sister out for whatever she had just done, or chasing after Rae, the only person to really help him through everything with Fiona. Picking the lesser of evils, Lip made his way upstairs and decided to let the two stubborn women sulk for a while, whatever they had just gotten into, it could wait.

"Hey, Lip," Ian said softly, turning so he was facing his brother. Lip stared at him with wide eyes. Ian looked so skinny, so sickly pale compared to the last time he saw him. "Catching flies?" Lip instinctively shut his mouth, though he couldn't spit out any words just yet. Ian flashed him a smile and stood, pulling his brother into a much needed embrace.
"Glad you're home," Lip managed to whisper, all the bottled emotions, the anger, the frustration, the worry, the stress, all of it, finally coming out in a broken, relieved sob.