The beeping pager brought her back to reality and she quickly went down the hallway. It turned out nurse Mary still didn't know how to use a computer properly so the emergency was at the counter of the entrance to her section and just meant to show Mary how to print a goddamn medical report. She sighed when the sheet finally came out of the printer. Mary was a wonderful nurse when it came to caretaking but terrible at all the formal stuff. She was about to go back to her office when Ian and Mickey came towards her, Ian carrying the bag and Mickey pushing himself down the hallway.
"There you go", she said as she walked from behind the counter. Ian opened his arms and they hugged before she turned to Mickey. She didn't know why she took the risk to hug him as well and was happy when she didn't get kicked in the guts but hugged back. It was a short one but it was a hug. She noticed that Mickey seemed almost timid. He tried to hide it by putting on his usual serious face but after seeing him everyday for three months, telling him devastating news, changing bandages on hurting wounds and forcing him to do painful physical therapy, he couldn't fool her. Ian even less of course. He patted Mickey gently on the shoulder.
"Well bye guys" he said and Mickey also murmured "bye" and then they were gone.
--
The sun was already peeking through the window when she woke up. Shit, it must be late then. It was the beginning of December and mostly dark outside. She sighed and got out of bed. A glance at the clock on the nightstand told her it was past eleven. Shit, she was planning on getting a shitload of work done. Since she was trying to manage both the diner and the laundromat she didn't get much rest and could really use her first day off in months do check all her numbers. A necessary evil that came along with owning shit. The house was quiet as she went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready for the second half of the day. Where the fuck was everybody? She got into the shower and fully woke up when the water ran over her head. Lip must be at work, Debbie at Neil's her new home, Liam was at school, Carl... right Carl was in military school. That was something she still couldn't wrap her head around. God, she missed him. But she was also proud. Proud that he was ready to make something of himself instead of turning into the South Side cliché.
And Ian? Where was Ian? Then it hit her. Today was the day. Today Mickey was coming. She sighed again and couldn't help the smile creeping up her face as she went downstairs and started making herself breakfast. It was crazy what had happened with Ian. After his diagnosis she had been surprised. Surprised by the fact that Mickey stuck around and tried. Tried everything he could to help Ian. And then Ian broke up with him and he was sent to jail and she had tried to think, maybe that's good. Their relationship didn't really seem healthy. But then Ian had started dating this firefighter. She had really made effort to understand it, feel happy for him but she just couldn't see it. Fortunately Ian figured pretty soon that it wouldn't work out. And then there was Trevor. Someone she had liked from the beginning. Nice, friendly, gentle and Ian seemed happy. Seemed. It wasn't long until she noticed the cracks. Noticed Ian's peeks at Trevor's hands, searching for knuckle tattoos that weren't there, at his hair that wasn't black. He would lean to him and kiss him and she would see the disappointment in his eyes because he wasn't told to fuck off or seeing at least a flinch because they were in public and she would watch Ian giving secret looks waiting for Trevor to return them which never happened. Because it wasn't Mickey. She had noticed all these things but she had still hoped that Trevor would be able to fill the hole Mickey had left. Ian had been trying to forget Mickey and for a while it had worked. But soon she had figured that their relationship wasn't much more than sex. Which was pretty funny because as far as she knew Mickey's and Ian's relationship had been all about sex in the beginning. Or better it was supposed to be just about sex but turned into more way sooner than any of them would admit while Ian and Trevor had claimed it was all about exploring and love for them but in fact it wasn't. It became clear to her when Ian went through another depression phase. The meds made them only slightly noticeable, compared to how they would be without pills, but they were there and Trevor didn't handle that well. He was impatient and pushed Ian to function and pretend everything was normal. He couldn't accept the fact that Ian was sick and needed space and patience. Of course they started fighting and in the end it had been pretty simple. Lip and Ian saw Mickey at the hospital and a couple weeks later Ian had cut it off with Trevor.
