Mickey blinked slowly.

"Mickey?"

Mickey shook his head slightly, "Yeah, I heard you. Congratulations."

"Fiona asked me to go visit them in the hospital," Ian explained, "She's stuck at work and can't get hold of Deb. Everyone else is in school."

"Okay." Mickey nodded.

"Mickey?" Ian said again.

Mickey was chewing his lip. "What?"

Ian took hold of Mickey's face and turned it towards him. "Are you going to come with me?" Ian asked.

Mickey's eyebrows shot up. "What?! No. Why the fuck would I come with you?"

"Because they're your friends? And if this," he gestured between them, "is going to be a thing - and God I really hope this time it is - then you're actually going to be a part of this kid's life."

"Like an uncle," Mickey clarified. "I can deal. I probably won't even see it much. Kids really ain't my thing."

"Him. It's a boy. Dillon."

"Oh."

"So. You're okay with that?"

"Look," Mickey turned his body fully to face Ian, "It's Lip and Reese you need to think about. I don't think they expected me to still be around when the baby came, you know? Let alone living under the same fuckin' roof." Then more to himself, "Shit. I gotta get my stuff out of there."

Ian nodded. "I'll help you."

"I just don't want them thinking I want anything from them. Or that I'm going to do anything to fuck it up for them. That's not... it's their kid. I'm nothing to do with it. Him. I just wanted them to be happy. Somebody had to be fuckin' happy."

"We're happy, Mickey." Ian gripped Mickey's shoulder. "Right?"

Mickey put a hand on top of Ian's and squeezed. "Tell them congrats from me."

Mickey POV

Mickey left the house at the same time as Ian, mindful of the need to get back to Lip's and start clearing all his crap out of the house. Not that he had much to pack up. Ian's offer of help was a welcome one and it would make the process go faster for sure, but all Mickey could think was "What next? What the fuck do we do now?"

Now he was finally free of his asshole dad, he knew they actually had a chance to make a go of things, but neither of them had a place to live or jobs worth a damn. What did the future hold for an ex-con and an ex-soldier?

But as he had followed Ian out of the front door, Ian had turned and gently circled Mickey's wrist with his long fingers, pressing a kiss to his lips, and for the first time in his life, Mickey hadn't felt the need to stop him, or been worried because they were in full view of the neighbours, and as his eyes closed for those few seconds, he realised that actually he didn't give a shit.

It had been a long wait, but he finally had a chance to get it right and he wasn't going to fuck it up this time.

He had leaned into the kiss, and when it was over and Ian had turned and trotted away, grinning, down the porch steps, Mickey had touched his tattooed fingers to his lips and just... savoured the moment.

Ian liked hospitals. Sure he'd some shitty experiences with them in the past, what with Monica slitting her wrists - which he counted as one of the most traumatic events of his teenage years - and the other time someone gave birth which turned out to be less than a blessing.

Plus there were more episodes with Frank than he cared to remember - and Frank probably couldn't remember – but he still believed that hospitals were a good place to be, especially since he'd seen more than his fair share of people dying from their injuries by roadsides and in vehicles because nobody had the proper supplies or equipment to help them.

He found himself in the maternity ward staring through the huge window at a room full of portable cots full of babies with little pink and blue hats, and he smiled. He thought briefly of Vicki. They'd never discussed children and now he was thankful for it. It was one less thing he had to worry about letting her down.

He let his eyes drift around the room, trying to figure out which one might be Lip's new son. As he turned slightly to look in one direction, he felt someone nudge him.

"He's over here," Lip was indicating in the other direction.

They took a few steps and Lip pointed towards a cot, where a small, sleeping bundle was swaddled tightly in blankets, a little blue beanie hat on his head. Ian squinted at the sign on the cot which read Dillon Mason Gallagher.

"Great name," Ian said, without moving.

"Thanks, man." Lip replied.

There was silence for a few moments, neither of them looking each other. They just kept looking at the baby. Like maybe if they kept staring at him, everything would be alright and all the uncomfortable tension between them could be forgotten.

Lip spoke first. "Look Ian-"

"Not now, Lip. Please," Ian stopped him, "It's okay."

Lip turned to face his brother. His right cheek had a yellowing bruise from Ian's punch and Ian cringed.

"No, it's not okay. I said some shitty things. You wanted answers and I just fucking hurled abuse at you."

"Hey! No cursing around the babies!" Ian admonished. "And no. Actually you only said what I needed to hear. Guess I just needed someone to drive the point home."

Lip's eyes widened in mock surprise, "Huh! So I was right?"

Ian rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah!"

"Good. And next time maybe can you not drive your point home with your fist in my face?" Lip joked. Then, off Ian's reaction he put his hands up in apology, "Sorry! Sorry."

Ian smiled, pushing his hands into the pockets of his jeans, "You actually don't have anything to apologise for. Well, maybe for avoiding me for so long, but I understand why everyone did what they did. You don't owe me any explanations."

"As long as things are okay," Lip raised his eyebrows in a question. "I never wanted to screw things up for you. I just wanted to do right by my family and I got a little short-sighted for a while there."

Ian smiled at the mention of the word "family." Family was the most important thing to the Gallaghers and it always had been, and now Lip had a family of his own. "I get it. I really do." He clapped a hand on Lip's shoulder. "I'm so happy for you. Both of you. Seriously. He's amazing."

"Right?" Lip's mouth turned up at the corner into a grin.

Ian could see, just by looking at him, that Lip finally had the child he'd been waiting for for a decade, and it'd filled the little void in his heart that had been missing since Karen stole a piece of it.

Lip slung his arm around Ian's shoulders, pulling him into a sort of side hug. "He's everything I ever wanted."

Ian grinned and looked at his brother, fixing him with a meaningful look.

"Yeah," he said, "I know exactly what you mean."