The Secret Between Us//Gallavich

10| Something's wrong

MICKEY
Soon enough, Fiona had come home. It had been 12 hours since I had put Ian to bed. At first he tossed and turned, clearly bothered by something. But, after a few hours, he started to calm down, allowing me to join Lip, Mandy and Fiona, who had started asking about Ian.

"Where was Ian? Is he okay now?" Fiona questioned as Mandy looked at Lip and I.

"He stayed with Mickey and I for a while, but then Ian and I had a big fight..." Mandy began.

"Yeah, huge fuckin' fight." I chimed in, watching as Mandy nodded.

"Holy shit. Was everything okay? Did Ian do anything?" Fiona put down her beer in shock.

"Ian left shortly after the fight ended. He didn't come back for a while, but when he did come back, he was calm." Mandy purposely ignored Fiona's question.

"I'm so sorry, Mandy. I'm glad everything is okay now." Fiona smiled, hugging Mandy.

"Is he sleeping upstairs?" Fiona asked.

"Yeah, but weirdly he hasn't gotten up..." I looked upstairs, Fiona's face dropping. Putting her beer down, she raced upstairs, going into Ian's room, seeing his back to the door. She walked over to him, placing her hand on his shoulders. Mandy, Lip and I watched as Fiona started talking to him.

"You want to get up? I'll make you a sandwich. Or I could get my sneakers. We could go for a run at the track. You want to go for a run? Get some fresh air? What do you say?" Fiona asked, getting no response.

"Okay, okay." Fiona gave up, walking out of his room, all of us following her.

"How long has he been like that?" Fiona asked.

"Since yesterday afternoon." Lip spoke, worried.

"And he hasn't gotten out of bed?" Fiona started to panic.

"No, he's just sleeping. I can't get him up. I- I tried." In all honesty, I was worried.

"Yeah, so did I." I was probably more worried than Mandy and to Fiona, Mandy was his girlfriend.

"And what about before? What was he like?" Fiona asked.

"Before, he was fine. He was happy. He's staying up all hours of the night, dancing, telling fucking jokes. He kicks our asses every day. We can't keep up with him." Mandy spoke up, now looking like she was about to cry.

"Lip?" Fiona looked at Lip, who sighed.

"Can't be sure. But it looked painfully familiar." Lip rolled his eyes, taking another sip of his beer.

"We should have some of Monica's lithium somewhere. It's not like she ever took it." Fiona laughed. Both Mandy and I were looking at them confused.

"And I always worried it'd be me." Fiona took a sip of her beer.

"Oh, there's still time. You know, I hear you could have your first psychotic break anytime in your teens or 20s." Lip shrugged his shoulders.

"Mental illness Russian roulette with Monica's DNA as the bullet." Fiona sighed.

"Mental illness? What the fuck you two talkin' about?" Mandy spoke up.

"Yeah...what's wrong with him?" I stepped back a bit, not trying to seem more interested than Mandy.

"Uh, depression, I think." Fiona sighed.

"He- he's depressed? What do you mean he's- We all get fucking depressed. How the fuck could we not, living around here?" I laughed. Deep down, my heart was breaking, but in order to keep Fiona from finding out about Ian and me, I had to play the part of the idiotic brother.

"It's not that kind of depressed, okay? Look, I could be wrong, but it could be Bipolar Disorder...like our mom." Fiona looked at Lip with sorrow in her eyes.

"Bi- Bi- Bi- What? What the fuck is that?" I laughed more, fully knowing how shitty I was acting.

"It's manic depression, Mick." Mandy let a tear slip. I grabbed another beer, not hesitating to down it within a few minutes.

"It's like high highs followed by low lows, over and over again. We'll get him an appointment at the clinic, and we'll see what they say." Lip informed Mandy and I.

"No, no, look. He- he's low. We cheer him up." Mandy started panicking.

"It's not like that. He may have to be hospitalized." Fiona rejected Mandy's idea.

"What do you mean, hos- Like a psych ward? No fucking way! No fucking way! He's staying here." Mandy started getting angry, really selling the 'worried girlfriend' act. Lip couldn't help but secretly smile at Mandy's acting, while I just stayed silent.

"He could end up suicidal." Fiona tried to remain calm.

"Then we hide the knives until he perks up." Mandy was really worried.

"I can- I can- We can take care of him. Okay, let Mickey and I take care of him until he's better." Mandy walked over to me, holding my arm, looking for support.

"It- It can be weeks. It's mood swings, okay? It's almost impossible to handle." Fiona exhaled.

"Don't fucking tell me what's impossible! We're taking care of him here. You, me, Mickey, Lip. US." Mandy yelled before calming down.

"He is family, Fiona." I exhaled, trying to hide the sadness and anger that I was feeling right now, hearing what Fiona wanted us to do with Ian.