Fiona had given the Milkovich a hit upside the head and yelled when he returned to the house with Carl. The kid was sent upstairs immediately, but that didn't stop the grin on his face or the way he looked at Mickey as if he was the most awesome guy alive.

And even though Fiona was pissed, all of them could see she was thankful and proud he had done something for Debbie, for their family. Everyone had welcomed Mickey in, and within a month he had mixed in with their way of things.

He even helped pay the rent and groceries, and started taking Carl out with him when he went to shoot some rounds from his gun.

One thing he still made a big deal about though was being a babysitter.

"No way am I sticking around to play nanny." He said to Fiona. Mickey had wanted to head over to The Alibi, have a few drinks, and then go find some little weasel to beat the shit out of like old times. It'd been months since he got to break some ribs.

It felt like Fiona was trying to domesticate him or some shit like that.

And here she was, all dolled up nice because Jimmy wanted to take her out. More like forced her to get dressed up and go out. Fiona wasn't really into the fancy shit.

"Too fucking bad. You're a member of this household. One we consider as part of this family now. It's your turn to watch Liam and Debbie." She said while she dug through her purse.

"Why can't Lip do it? They're his fucking siblings, not mine." Mickey pretended to not hear what she said about being part of the family. He didn't want to think about how it made a part of him happy.

At the moment, he was sitting at the table, dong the class work both Mandy and the Gallagher sisters expected him to do. He kept telling himself the only reason he was doing it was to prove to Lip that a Milkovich could finish college. That Mickey Milkovich could finish college.

Fiona looked up from her purse and gave Mickey that look again. The look that made him shift out of nervousness and being uncomfortable.

"Lip took Mandy out, and Carl's out with Little Hank. I would ask V, but she's busy helping Kev out tonight at The Alibi." She told him. And before he could respond, Jimmy came down the stairs and they left.

"Have a good ol' time!" Mickey called after them, rubbing his lip. He shut his books after another minute or two and got up, moving to the couch and staring at the TV. Liam walked over to him grinning and reaching out.

"You're lucky I tolerate you, kid." He grumbled and picked up the toddler. Liam sat on his knee, playing around with Mickey's fingers. Mickey pretended to be annoyed by this, but actually enjoyed it.

"He likes you."

Mickey turned his head as Debbie walked down the stairs and over to the couch, taking her place next to him and resting her head on his shoulder. Mickey learned long enough ago that telling Debbie to "Fuck off" got him the same response as if he'd said it to Ian.

"I'm starting to notice. I thought you liked Little Hank, so why didn't you go off to fuck knows where with him and the sociopath?" he kept his attention on Liam as he tried putting Mickey's fingers in his mouth. He could tell Debbie was grinning though. A little laugh escaped her.

"I'm so over Hank. He's too much like Carl."

"Oh, great. Now there are two potential serial killers. At least I'm good with one of 'em."

The three of them sat in a comfortable silence. Something the ex-con used to hate. Now he wasn't sure what he really felt about it. The TV and Liam's giggling was the only thing you could hear from the inside, though outside the house, you could hear alarms and shouting.

After a while, Liam had fallen asleep with his head resting against Mickey's shoulder. Debbie had become absorbed with watching "Deadliest Catch" while Mickey just stared off out the window, wondering what Gallagher was doing at this moment.

Was Ian thinking about him? Did he get his ass shot yet?

Maybe Firecrotch met someone else, or finally decided he was better off without Mickey.

Then he started to criticize himself. He fucking sounded like one of the gay love sick puppies. Who cares if Ian fucking Gallagher found someone else? The idiot did a smart thing and got his ass out of Chicago. It was pathetic and weak of Mickey to think like that.

He bit his lip. No matter how many arguments Mickey has with himself, the fact he loves Ian will always be why he's jealous and scared and worried and even nervous. The sappiest thing he would ever MAYBE do in front of anyone would be some hug or whatever.

For Ian…He doesn't know.

Mickey didn't realize that Debbie had spoken to him until he looked at her, her eyes staring, waiting for some answer.

"You say something?" he asked stupidly, shifting slightly.

"I said that Ian sent another letter." She replied, huffing. Mickey tried his best to not look as interested as he really was.

"Oh? What'd Gallagher write?"

"Just that he misses us. And…He said he saw one of his friends get killed." She spoke quietly.

Mickey tensed. If Ian lost a friend, then that'd mean there was an even bigger risk of it being him next time. And it meant Gallagher could have been crying. Dammit, Ian shouldn't have to cry about something like that. He shouldn't have had to even go through it.

"Shit…" Mickey mumbled.

"But he said he was tough like you'd want him to be. And he also said that if you ever do anything to upset us or get us hurt that he'll use his Army training to kick your ass." Debbie continued.

"He wishes." Mickey scoffed, hiding that he was proud of his Gallagher.

Maybe he'll be all right. Mickey couldn't help but smile, though he quickly bit down on his lip to hide it.

"You should write to him, too. Mandy and all of us do." Debbie suggested. Mickey scowled.

"Fuck off. I don't do writing, let alone something stupid like letters."

Debbie frowned. "But he'd like it. Ian would be happy if you wrote to him."

"I don't write letter, Debbie. End of fucking story." He didn't want to think about the part of him that was winning over.

Debbie looked like she wanted to argue, but instead closed her mouth and resumed watching TV, her head back on his shoulder.

When Jimmy and Fiona came home later that night, the three were still asleep on the couch, the same positions they'd been in earlier.

The two stared at them in fascination.

"Should we wake them up?" Jimmy whispered. Fiona just smiled and shook her head.

"Leave them. Savor this rarity while we can." She whispered back, leading Jimmy up the stairs after covering Mickey, Liam, and Debbie with a blanket and kissing their foreheads. Even Mickey's.

And even asleep, Mickey knew he'd let this happen again. Maybe.