Fiona rubbed her hands against her face to try and wake herself up a bit more, the coffee wasn’t helping; she had been up for so long she was developing a tolerance for the caffeine and sugar. Ian hadn’t come home the night before and she was going out of her mind with worry, normally she would have just shrugged it off and gone to bed with a plan to yell at him in the morning for making her worry but after Mickey came into their lives each missed check in became a thing to fear.
They had thought it would be safe to let Ian go back to work after Linda Karib had called and said that she was finally in the know about the whole situation and had taken care of things. Everyone knew that once Linda chose to handle something, it got handled. When Ian hadn’t come home on time from work she had Lip go get him thinking maybe he just didn’t want to chance walking home alone, something she should have thought of but it had completely slipped her mind in the relief of having another ally on Ian’s side. Lip had come back furious saying that the store was closed with a sign on the door saying they would be closed for repairs for the next three days, something about an inspection or something, with no sign of Ian.
They had both run to the Milkovich house but were greeted by Terry at the front door who told both of them to fuck off before they could even ask if Ian was there. While they were sure he was they hadn’t wanted to chance stirring Terry up enough that he would do something they couldn’t handle. If they were both out of commission there wasn’t anyone left to really help Ian, so they backed off and made their way back home trying to come up with some kind of plan to either get in that house or find a way to get Ian out. Calls to Mandy went to voicemail, neither of them knew Mickey’s number not that it would have done them any good to try, and Ian didn’t have a phone of his own. By the time morning rolled around all that was left to do was to wait and worry.
Hearing the front door open she jumped up to run and see who it was, if it wasn’t Ian she was going to say fuck it and do her best to storm the gates of the Milkovich house herself, she couldn’t keep sitting around. Seeing her brother trying to slip past her notice and up the stairs would have normally filled her with amusement at the idea that one of them thought they could get something over on her, but with this brother the furtive behavior filled her with pain. What had happened now?
“Ian?” He froze on the stairs but refused to turn around, oh no. “Ian look at me.” She knew what she was going to see, but she needed to see it. She needed the anger it would bring.
He finally turned towards her after thinking about it for just that little bit too long. His eye had been blackened again and his lip cut, she could see bruises peeking out from under his clothes on his wrists and neck and the way he moved told her there was far worse under them that she couldn’t see.
She reached out her hands hesitating for a just a moment, giving him enough time to move away, before pulling him against her where he finally broke. His sobs and the wetness of his tears against her neck broke her heart. Squeezing him just a little tighter, not wanting to aggravate his injuries but needing him to know that she loved him and she would always be there for him, she cleared her throat to speak past the painful tightness building there.
“Go lay down sweetie I’ll be up to take a look at you in a minute.” Rubbing up and down his back she gave him the best reassuring smile she could slap on with her watering eyes. While she watched him slowly trudge up the stairs, his head down and his shoulder still tense and hunched over ashamed of the weakness he just let slip. This had to end and she knew just how to end it.
For Ian.
Mickey was sound asleep. His morning romp took a lot out of him after the night he had, after their shift at the store ended he had brought Ian back home with him to spend the night and make it up to him, he would get up around noon and start his day then. It wasn’t like he had anywhere to be today, he showed up when he wanted to and no one said dick about it. He was in that pleasant state of floating somewhere between being awake and being asleep, where the world didn’t exist when the world decided to descend on him again.
A loud bang of his door hitting the wall behind it had his eyes snapping open just in time to feel the cops hands grabbing at his arms. He was pulled out of the bed and slammed onto the ground, his hands were already being cuffed behind his back so he had no way to keep his face from being rubbed against the carpet, he could feel the burn against his cheek.
He could hear his dad and his brothers yelling across the house, he had a feeling Mandy would be joining them if she hadn’t gotten up and followed after Ian already. Fucking raid. He was being pulled out in just his boxers and dragged towards the front of the house, he knew how this worked soon enough he would be on his knees in his own fucking yard waiting to be taken down to be booked.
Someone had to have called something in on them for the cops to be beating down their door so damn early in the day, but no one would dare call the cops on his family. No one was that damn dumb, well almost no one. He knew one family who just might pull that ripcord without thinking it through first, and when he got out he would be paying them a little visit.
The sun was blinding but he managed to stay on his feet until he was shoved down next to his brother Iggy.
“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you?” They all nodded, no one was going anywhere until they gave some acknowledgement and it was fucking cold out here.
“With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?” His father answered for them all by spitting at the bastard’s feet. Like fuck they were talking to the cops.
“We have executed a warrant for these premises based on the belief that this house holds illegal substances and materials. You will be taken down and held at the precinct, you will not be booked until after the search is completed and the list of charges has been submitted. Alright, take ‘em out of here.”
This was going to be a fun night, he knew what the cops would find. A few unregistered guns, some drugs never enough to amount to intent to distribute, a few other little surprises but nothing that added up to much at all. Since it was Terry’s house he would lay claim to the majority of the things just lying around, any drugs or other shit found in specific rooms would be laid at the feet of the owner of the room, but they always made sure those things were personal use based. Never enough to put anyone away for very long, that’s what fucking warehouses were for. Never keep shit on you that could get you popped for a long stretch.
Terry would probably do the full bid for the guns, non-probation felony serving three to seven and it ain’t like Terry could ever get time off for good behavior. So he would be out of the game for a few years. He was still considered a minor and the only thing that could be pinned to him would be his recreational drugs that he always made sure were just under the felony limits, he didn’t keep anything else in his room since Gallagher became a fixture there. The kid had a hell of a temper and it was better to not tempt fate. That left him looking at somewhere around six month inside. If he had a parent that was worth a fuck he could have gotten off with drug counseling but given his pedigree and the fact that he had violent run ins on his sheet he would serve at least a little time in juvie.
That was fine, it would just give him time to plan. Fucking Gallaghers.
Ian watched the cops pull away with the majority of the Milkovich clan in tow and turned back towards his house to see his family standing on the porch watching alongside him. Mandy was standing behind Fiona against the door frame of the house looking completely lost, he knew the confusion wouldn’t last and she would soon be jumping into the fight to see how she could help the people she cared about, but for now there was nothing for her to do. She had shown up not long after he got home, her eyes full of tears and regret begging for his understanding, he only had the energy to scoot over and let her crawl into bed with him but that was all they really needed.
Lip looked equally happy and confused. He was happy to see Mickey go but he seemed confused as to why Mandy was standing with them rather than with her own family, though that didn’t seem to stop his eyes from wandering over her barely covered form. If his brother hurt his best friend he would have to do something, though he had no idea what he could do about it at this point. Mandy was a big girl and she could take care of herself, but there were some things that as a best friend you just had to step in on and this was one of them. Sure Mandy had screwed him over a few times when it came to Mickey but he couldn’t blame her for that, she was just trying to survive in that house and he knew that feeling well enough to not hold a grudge about it.
It wasn’t until he looked at his sister standing on their porch with a smug look of satisfaction lighting up her features that he knew. Fiona had called the cops on Mickey and his family, and she was proud of it. He didn’t know what would happen now, but he knew whatever it was it would leave lasting damage to them all.
Fiona thought it was over, that the cops had taken care of their problem for them but he knew better and if she knew Mickey she would know it too. This didn’t take care of anything; it only delayed the inevitable.
Mickey would never be gone for long.
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Kasey1939 