Part Fifty-Three: Baby Names

I wake up and glance around. Where am I? I spot the word "Fuck" on the wall a lot and the house smells familiar. Mickey's room? I turn my head to see a pregnant sitting on the edge of a bed. It's Her.

"Morning," I say to Her.

"It is afternoon, you sleep all day."

I nod. I get up. I look down quickly. Mickey put blankets on the floor for me. I don't really remember how I got here. I make a break for the shower. I remember where it is. I'm familiar with the Milkovich house. I pass Ryan on my way to the bathroom.

"You're up, man. I thought you were dead," says Ryan.

"Ryan!" I embrace him and give him a squeeze. "It's so good to see you. You look exactly the same. I can't believe you live here. Wow. We must catch up later."

"Okay," says Ryan. I give him another squeeze before I go into the bathroom. I strip and get in the shower. Half way through letting the water run over me someone yanks the curtain back. She gets in my face with a claw hammer.

"I have baby soon, I cannot work. He must take care of me and baby. You go. We do not need you. You sleep here tonight in this house, I kill you. I will bash your orange head." She ends her threat with something in Russian.

Before She leaves She looks at my dick. I dress in the bathroom. Mickey got my clothes from that place. I guess the only left now is to go home. I dress warmly. Ryan is holding out a cup of coffee and gives me a nod.

"Thanks for being there for Mick," I tell him.

"Uh—no problem," says Ryan with his mouth full of food.

"Where is Mick?"

"Work," says Ryan.

"Oh," I say.

"Where are you going?" Ryan asks.

"I don't know yet," I tell him. I pat him on the arm. "See ya."

"Hold on, don't leave. Mickey will want to see you when he gets back."

But I'm out the door before he can protest. I walk down the street in the direction of my family. I guess that's the only thing left. I need to return home to see everyone. The house is empty but for Fiona who is sitting in the kitchen when I come in the front door.

She practically jumps in my arms. I sniff her hair. The familiarity of it warms me up. I hug her tight. I can't believe how much I missed her. She feels the same way. She fits in my arms the same way. This is good. I like this. Nothing has changed.

"I love you," I tell her patting her.

"I love you too, you piece of shit. I can't believe you ran away. What the fuck, Ian?"

"I'm sorry. I had to," I tell her, but I kiss her forehead. She holds me tight.

"Why did you leave?"

"I don't want to talk about it right now. I met some amazing people. Oh my god, I can't wait to tell you all about it," I tell her as I begin to take off my hat and gloves.

"You hungry?"

"Starving," I say. Fiona lets me have her sandwich and I down it in three bites. She is watching me carefully. I notice the house arrest monitor on her leg. "Nice hardware."

"Oh yeah, all I can get on are 'fuck me' pumps and tennis shoes." I laugh. Fiona stops what she is doing and looks at me. "You alright?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You seem a little caffeinated."

"I quit smoking. I guess it just gave me this sudden burst of energy," I tell her. "So I think we should get a cat." I tell her. "I've been reading about them. They're very intelligent animals and they're low maintenance." Fiona leans across the table and touches my forehead. "What?"

"I was just checking to make sure you're not sick. You seem different," Fiona says.

"Oh check it out," I tell her and raise my shirt to show off my new tattoo.

"Sexy," says Fiona slapping me on the belly.

"I thought you'd be furious."

"I left coke out and Liam found it, I have no right to judge," Fiona says.

"Congratulations, you're Frank," I joke. Fiona shakes her head. She bursts into tears. Oh no, don't cry, I was joking. I stand up and pull her into a hug. "I didn't mean it."

"I almost killed Liam and you weren't here. I didn't look for you. I was too caught up in my own fucking life to look for you. For all I knew you could have been dead." She sobs in my arms. She holds me so tight it's hard to breathe, but I continue to hold her.

"I'm fine," I tell her.

"I want you to know that I love you, Ian. Okay, just because I didn't look for you doesn't mean I don't love you. I love you so much it hurts," Fiona says. I have no idea when she plans on letting me go, but I hold her too.

Eventually, Fiona releases me and I go upstairs to my bedroom. I sit down on my old bed. It still feels the same. I take out my notebook and begin to write frantically. The ideas just keep coming. When I look up Mickey has come in.

"So you left, and took all your shit," Mickey says.

"Your bride threatened me with a claw hammer."

My brothers and sister enter my room. I jump up to hug them and kiss them and love on them. It's nice to be around them. When Lip hugs me I clutch on to him. It's been a long time since I've seen him and I missed him most.

"We'll catch up later," says Lip looking between me and Mickey.

"So you coming back," Mickey asks me when they're gone.

"Depends will you suck my dick whenever I want?" I ask him. I'm taunting him. He knows it.

"Fuck off," he says. I shrug and start writing again. "What are you writing?"

"Thoughts, Ideas," I tell him.

"I'll do it."

"Do what?"

"Don't make me say it, ass wipe."

"Suck my dick," I say with a teasing tone to my voice. Mickey drops to his knees in front of me and hurriedly unzips my pants. He sucks me off like a pro. I grab on to his hair. It doesn't take long until I come into his mouth. When we're done, I zip up and pat the spot beside me on the bed. I shift positions so that I am in between Mickey's legs and he has his arms around me. We cuddle like that.

I feel him kissing the side of my face, and nibbling on my ear. I lean into him. I turn my head a little to the right and meet his lips with mine. Mickey kisses me in a way he never has before. After the short make out session, I lean against him.

"So, what do you want to name your baby?" I ask taking his hand. He kisses my cheek and I feel his face in my hair.

"What baby?"

"Your baby, you're having with her," I say, "I've written down a list of names that I think are good." I rifle through my notebook until I find the five pages of baby names that I wrote down. I hand them to Mickey.

"You have way too much free time," he kisses my hair. "I don't think Svetlana wants me to name the baby."

"He's your kid too. You should have a say. And if I am raising him too I should at least get to suggest some names."

"You're raising him too?" Mickey asks squeezing my hand tighter. He's being oddly affectionate.

"Yeah. I mean, if you want me too. I always thought we'd have a family together."

"You think about that shit," Mickey says.

"Yeah. I think about our future all the time. You don't?"

Mickey without missing a beat says, "I think about the future all the time. I wonder what sort of dates we'll go on next week, and if I'm going to buy you Reese's Pieces or man up and get legit flowers, I wonder about how I'm going to keep you safe, and if you're going to run off again or not. But no matter what, I can't imagine a future without you in it."

Now it's my turn to kiss Mickey. I turn over mid kiss and deepen the connection. I lay Mickey back on the bed and kiss him so deeply I feel something poke me in the thigh. I smile in the kiss and slide my hands under his shirt. He winces from my hands being cold against his skin.

When things start to heat up, we both start panting heavily. Just when things are about to get really good, I hear some shuffling in the hallway. I don't get off Mickey and he won't let me stop kissing him.

"Hey, not in here," says Fiona. Mickey and I finally stop kissing. He hides his face from my sister.

"What? I'm not doing anything wrong."

Fiona comes in and shuts the door.

"I know that, Ian. I just don't want Carl or Liam to walk in on you two. They've seen Lip and Mandy going at it, but I think seeing gay sex might scar Carl for life, no offense."

"He once asked me where gay wieners go. I think he'll be fine."

"Ian. Not in here, use my room or Lip's."

"Fine," I say, getting a little harsh with her. She recoils and leaves. I climb off Mickey and we get back into cuddling position. "She's overreacting."

"Ian, it's okay," says Mickey.

"No it's not," I say. But Mickey pulls me back into him and holds me tight. He nuzzles his head against mine. "Sorry."

"Forget about it," Mickey says. He kisses the side of my face.

"Let's go on a date," I suggest.

"It's winter. I think it'll be cold to sit under the L and make out when we could do it right here," says Mickey.

"No, a real date, I want to go out in public with you," I tell him.

"Ian, you just got back."

"So what? Let's go out."

I jump up and start putting on layers. Mickey finally gives in and begins to layer himself too. I take his hand. He releases it when we pass my siblings. I roll my eyes at him. I kiss the top of Liam's head as I go out the door.

Mickey and I walk side by side down the street. We pass Tony getting off duty. He pulls me into a hug. I take an opportunity to feel his muscles under his uniform.

"Ian, you're back. I was starting to worry. Fiona wouldn't let me file a missing person's report. But I'm glad you're back," Says Tony.

"Yeah, it's nice to be home. It was good to see you. We'll catch up later."

"I look forward to it," says Tony.

When Tony goes into his house I notice Mickey has walked off. He's smoking a cigarette and not looking at me. I catch up to him.

"You are not fucking doing this again," Mickey says.

"What did I do?"

"Flirted with Barney Fife in front of me. I'm fucking tired of it, Ian."

"I'm sorry, Mick. Tony's my friend."

"Yeah, like you haven't fucked him," Mickey says.

"I haven't."

Mickey looks into my eyes. I insist I haven't fucked Tony and he believes me. I lean over and kiss Mickey to reassure him. He doesn't kiss me back, but instead he takes my hand.

"I'm still kicking his fucking ass," says Mickey.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"Where do you want to go?"

"I'm hungry," I tell Mickey putting my hand on my stomach. It's growling like crazy. Mickey leads the way. We take the bus together, Mickey holds my hand. He glowers at anyone who stares too long. Mickey flips off an older woman and her brats when they start making comments to each other. And I have to restrain him from attacking a minister. But we finally make it to Wendy's. I smile at Mickey.

"You said you were hungry and we aren't dressed for anything fancy," says Mickey. He smiles at nods his head in the direction of the door. I grin and follow him.

We sit inside the building where it's warm. We sit together. I rub my foot against Mickey's under the table. He smiles at me. I lean over and kiss his cheek. He quickly glances around to see if anyone noticed. He wipes it off.

"This is nice," I say.

"Yeah," says Mickey with his mouth full. He has mustard on his lip. I want to lean over and lick it off but he'd probably freak out.

"Will you sleep over tonight?" I ask.

"Planned on it," Mickey says finally getting the mustard off his lips.

"I like the name Presley for a girl. Presley Milkovich sounds cute doesn't it?"

"You're still on that?"

"I like Austin for a boy. Austin Milkovich doesn't really sound that good though. Maybe Sebastian."

"She's not going to let me name the brat," Mickey says, "Let's drop it."

"How about me? If you had to come up with a pet name for me, what would it be?"

"Why the fuck are you asking me this shit?" Mickey asks and doesn't answer. He so adamantly doesn't answer that he shuts his mouth tight and doesn't look at me until I drop it.

"Are you done? Ready to walk back," I say. But Mickey and I don't walk back. Mickey takes me into a flower shop that is about to close. We browse. "I'm not really into flowers, but I appreciate the gesture."

He grumbles and groans and doesn't say anything. Mickey takes me by the hand and we walk together in silence until we get to another place. A pet store.

"I want a kitten," I tell Mickey, "but Fiona said no."

"You can play with them," says Mickey picking up the smallest one and handing it to me. It mews while trying to climb away.

"Aw," I say nuzzling the kitten. I lean over and kiss Mickey on the cheek, which he wipes off and looks around to see if anyone noticed. "I want to keep it."

"You can't," says Mickey, "and stop fucking kissing me."

I put the kitten back and Mickey takes me to a candy store. He buys me whatever I want. We walk back to my house together eating the candy we bought. Mickey finally holds my hand and let's me kiss him.

Mickey makes a place for himself on the floor beside my bed. I cannot talk him into sleeping beside me on my tiny, bed. But we stay up talking for a few hours, about random shit until he finally drifts off. I watch him sleep for awhile until I feel sleep take hold.