It was ten thirty in the morning when Ian arrived. He looked happy and scared both at the same time, looking forward and afraid of what would happen.
"Hey, Ian", She greeted, "How are you?"
"Nervous to be honest", he answered and smiled weakly.
"Who wouldn't be", she mumbled so quietly that Ian probably didn't hear it. She reached into the pocket of her lab coat and took out the bottles with pills she had prepared earlier.
"These are pain relievers" she said holding the first one up, "In case he is in pain, he needs to take one pill with liquid. No alcohol, not for swallowing nor with the medication in his system. And not more than three pills a day."
"Okay", Ian said when she handed him the bottle.
"And here we have the meds for blood dilution. Like I said they prevent a thrombosis."
She rattled down the list with all the different pills for Mickey and gave them to Ian who put all the containers into his backpack.
"We talked about everything else, right?", she asked which caused him to roll his eyes and answer: "Yeah, like ten times."
"Well, if you have any questions, just call me you have my card. Same goes for Mickey of course. I'm telling you because he won't call if there's a problem and you know that, so please try to get him to call me if you feel he should."
"Will try."
"Okay", she said and they made their way to Mickey's soon to-be ex-room.
Mickey was sitting in his wheelchair and looking at his phone when they entered. He looked up and she saw a small smile appear on his face when he spotted Ian.
"Well, I'll see you when you head out", she said before she left them alone. She turned left to walk down the hallway when a movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. There were windows in the walls next to the doors of the different rooms that allowed to see inside. It was mostly for the doctors and nurses to be able to always check on the patients. Of course you could put down the blinds if you didn't want people peeking in your room all the time. Mickey's blinds had always been shut since he was definitely someone who liked to have some privacy. But today he had opened them, probably in the process of getting all his stuff and putting the room back into it's original shape so she saw what was happening in this room.
Ian picked up Mickey's bag that contained all the things that had somehow found their way out of Mickey's home and inside the hospital. Then he walked to the windows and checked if they were closed while obviously speaking with Mickey although she couldn't hear them.
And then he went back to Mickey who was still in the same spot, but now looking at Ian instead of his phone and he bent down until his face was in front of Mickey's and he kissed him. Wait, what?
She almost dropped her pager that she had pulled out when it had started beeping. Jesus, how had she been so blind?! Mickey and Ian weren't just best friends. They were in a relationship. She should have noticed way earlier but she was shocked. She hadn't seen it, although it had been kind of obvious. But on the other hand she had never seen someone fit the gay stereotype less than those two, especially Mickey. She knew she shouldn't watch this private moment between them, but she couldn't tear her eyes away. They were so... gentle. Something she rarely saw when it came to Mickey. Both had closed their eyes and Ian cupped his hand around Mickey's neck as they were kissing slowly. It wasn't just a peck on the lips but neither was it making out. It was a kiss that screamed true love and she knew that sounded drippy as fuck but she couldn't describe it differently.
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.
She would always remember the night when Ian came home and finally looked something like happy again. Later he told her that he worked things out with Mickey. It had lead to a long talk between them and they had spoken about all the shit in their lives. Ian had asked if Mickey could stay with them since Carl and Debbie were out of the house and she had told him that even if they weren't Mickey would be more than welcome to stay because he was. They fought and were both stubborn as fuck but Ian and Mickey loved each other and the only other couple where she saw that kind of love was between Kev and V. Ian had called around and one day she had stumbled over a guy measuring out their shower when she was about to take one. They had gotten a ramp for the stairs of the porch and Ian had spent hours with moving all their stuff around in order to make it possible for someone in a wheelchair to move around in the house.
She put eggs into the pan on the stove and turned it on. God, she was hungry. Her glance met the pile of paper sitting on the table in front of her. Waiting to be looked through and checked. She closed her eyes, trying to hide from the upcoming work when she heard the front door opening. She turned around and saw Ian entering the house. Behind him was Mickey.
He looked exactly the way she remembered him, the same short black hair, of course the same tattoos, the same blue jacket. Only that he was sitting in a wheelchair now. When she stepped closer she could also see that his eyes were different. Less hard, more hurt but at the same time somehow... calmer. He looked at her almost shyly and she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Mickey would tell her to fuck herself if he knew that she had pity for him so she quickly put on a smile.
"Hey", she said and hugged her little brother. Then she turned to Mickey, not sure what to do but decided to just go for it and she hugged him as well. "Welcome back", she said when she let go and he actually sort of smiled when he answered, "Thanks. Good to be back." There was an awkward silence for about five seconds until she tried to break the ice by asking, "Anyone hungry? I'm making eggs." "Sounds good", Ian said and Mickey nodded so she went back to the kitchen before said eggs could burn. While she was cooking breakfast she couldn't stop herself from glancing behind her from time to time. Ian helped Mickey out of his jacket and sat down at the couch while Mickey took a spot next to it. They were talking but it was too quiet for her to understand.
About ten minutes later she had made enough eggs for all of them and called them to join her at the table. She pushed the papers to the side so they would have enough room to put the plates on the table and eat.
"Holy shit Fi, what's all this?", Ian asked and pointed at the mess of documents she had pushed away.
"Uh, just shit from Patsy's and the laundromat. Gotta look through it."
"Looks like fun."
"Uh-um", she said around a mouthful of eggs.
Mickey remained silent but she didn't miss Ian's hand reaching under the table and squeezing his thigh. He seemed so insecure and it reminded her of the time they had visited Ian in the psych ward and Mickey had been scared shitless by the way the sedated Ian behaved. Now he waswwas the one who was sick. It was like all the progress Mickey had made in terms of accepting himself for who he is and not hiding anymore was gone.
As soon as they were finished Fiona put the dishes away and sat down at the table again to finally get some work done. Mickey and Ian occupied the living room and started watching some stupid movie. She smiled when she saw them on the couch, leaning against each other. Ian had arranged a shitload of blankets around them. "Mickey's always cold since...", Ian had told her a couple weeks ago.
Two hours later she had barely made any progress and was getting frustrated so she decided to take a break and do some grocery shopping. The eggs had been the last edible thing in the house.
"Where are you going?", Ian asked as she passed the couch.
"Costco."
"Do you want me to-"
"No thanks."
"Okay."
She could have used some help but Ian and Mickey looked too damn cute to make Ian come with her.
--
Mickey dozed off twenty minutes after the movie had started. Ian couldn't help the smile creeping up his face as he watched his sleeping boyfriend. Mickey was laying half on top of him, head on his chest, arms loosely wrapped around his torso while Ian had put one hand on Mickey's head, slowly stroking through the black hair. He would have laid there forever but eventually he couldn't ignore certain needs which were having to pee and taking his meds so he tried to untangle himself from the blankets and Mickey's limbs around him without waking him up. Of course it didn't work.
"Sorry", he whispered as Mickey opened a sleepy eye. He mumbled something that sounded like "The fuck are you doing" and Ian responded, "taking a piss" before he got off the sofa and went upstairs.
When he came back the couch was empty and the wheelchair gone. Where the hell was Mickey? Ian looked towards the kitchen and spotted him sitting at the table bending over Fiona's numbers.
With a whimsical smile on his face Ian walked behind him and leant over his shoulders. "Since when are you interested in this shit?"
"I'm not. Just fucking bored." Ian didn't believe him but decided not to push. Instead he said, "Well, since you're busy I'm gonna shower." Mickey just nodded and Ian rolled his eyes before he placed a kiss on Mickey's head and went upstairs again.
Mickey spent all afternoon with his new found work and Ian couldn't stop grinning as he was writing a shitload of numbers down, the calculator resting untouched next to him because he didn't need it. Ian was impressed. He had known Mickey was way smarter than he would admit but he hadn't thought that he would be such a math crack. While he was doing the laundry and cleaned the kitchen acting all housewifely he had an idea. Since the day he had managed to get Mickey to forgive him, he had tried to think of something Mickey could do in order to make a living. His days of scams and dealing were clearly over beside the fact that Ian liked it better if Mickey stayed out of this kind of shit. He knew Mickey would hate the idea of sitting around all day doing nothing. Relying on other people in terms of a home, money and help. Ian couldn't erase the fact that Mick needed help but he could do something concerning a job. He would talk to Fiona and Kev first but he was sure they would like his idea.
It was nearly 6pm when Fiona came back, carrying tons of bags filled with groceries. Ian quickly took them from her and placed them in the kitchen, were Mickey was still working through the papers, before heading outside with her to get the rest of the bags.
"Uhm Fiona?"
"Yeah?"
"You saw Mick looking through your work shit?"
"No. Why? He better not make a mess."
"I think he's actually getting it in order and calculating."
"What?"
"Yeah and I thought maybe... he could do all your accounting. And Kev's. I mean he would help out both of you. Kev and V have been struggling since Svetlana left and he would have something to do since-"
"I think that's a great idea."
"Yeah? Cool, I'm just gonna go to-"
"Would I have to pay him?"
"Uhm-"
"Kidding, of course I will."
Ian smiled. "Thanks, I just think it would help him with... everything."
"Yeah, I hope so too." She patted his shoulder Ian hesitated but asked anyway.
"Hey, can Kev and V come with the kids? So Mick can see Yev?"
"Tell them to get their asses over here", Fiona said grinning.