Until the end (Ian Gallagher x OC)

Chapter 79

Three hours into my four hour shift my phone rang from inside my locker, though I didn't notice it at the time.

Liam and Debbie sat on the couch together, Debbie texting someone while Liam watched cartoons and Riley sat in the play pen. Ian snuck downstairs quietly, moving to the kitchen and opening the fridge. He drank the orange juice straight from the carton before glancing over at his meds. He opened all the capsules and dumped the pills out, gathering them all in his hand.

Later that afternoon Debbie had gone to the fridge, still on her phone until she paused at the sight of empty pill bottles scattered on the counter.

"Ian! Ian?" Debbie called out, running up the stairs with a panic.

"Debbie? What's going on?" I called out, having missed Ian's calls earlier and returning home to her shouting his name.

"His pills are gone" she gestured panicked towards the empty bottles.

"Shit" I cursed in frustration.

"Hey, there. Uh, Ian, isn't it?" One of the Lisas questioned, building a garden in the empty lot beside the house. Ian had been outside, having a smoke, knowing how much I hated people smoking around Riley. "I remember that 'cause that's my therapist's name, and he's a ginger too." She chuckled with a smile towards him but he stared back blankly.

"Anyway, uh, I was wondering when you think you might be able to get to taking down this pool." She said as he leaned against their old pool.

"Mm, well... I'm coming down off some heavy lithium right now... but maybe in an hour or two." He offered her a weak smile.

"Perfect" She nodded, scared and confused of Ian's odd behavior.

"Ian!" Debbie called, the two of us running down the outside steps to find him.

"Oh, my God, there you are." I sighed in relief.

"Here I am." He looked over at us simply.

"Ian, what happened to all your pills?" I wondered with worry.

"They're gone." He stated as if I didn't already know, puffing out smoke that blew in my face as I blew it away and waved with my hand annoyingy.

"Yeah, I-I can see that they're gone, but gone where? Did you swallow them?"

"No. They're flushed." Ian claimed, knowing he could never swallow those pills and put us through that, knowing we would be relieved that he wasnt that far gone.

"Ian, why would you do that?" Debbie asked, hurt.

"They make me feel awful, Debs, like life is not worth living. I feel so much better just knowing they're gone." Ian claimed blandly, walking past us again.

"Come here" I pulled Debbie inside with me.

"What do we do now?" She panicked.

"Just go take these to Fiona and tell her what happened. I'll keep an eye on everything here" I promised, gently handing her the bottles of medication in a bag. "Hey, are you okay?" I checked in on her when I saw the tears forming in her eyes.

"No" she shook her head, tears over flowing now as I pulled her in for a tight hug. "I don't know how your not scared" she stepped back to look at me.

"Are you kidding Debs? I'm scared shitless. I've never dealt with anything like this before. I mean I've dealt with pregnancy, fist fights, and a whole bunch of other shit, but nothing like this. I'm terrified that I'm going to lose my best friend, but we all need to do our parts and stay strong for each other" I reminded her.