Casual Sabotage

23 - Baby, I'm a mess

Mickey woke up in a hospital room.
It was dark outside, but since it was November that didn't mean anything. The light in the room was bright and artificial and burned his eyes even before he opened them. He turned his face away from the light and was looking at Sandy. His cousin was sitting next to his bed, teeth gnawing on her lip, hair messy, she looked angry.

"Mick, are you awake?", she asked and sat up straight when she noticed him moving, "Fucking finally, shithead, you scared the crap out of me."
Mickey showed a weak grin, "Were you worried about me? Gettin' soft, bitch"
Sandy smiled relieved and shook her head, "I hate you."
"For how long was I out?"
"Three years, yeah, should have died, the hospital bill is gonna kill you now."

"For fuck's sake, could you stop joking?", it came from the other side of the bed, there sat Lip Gallagher, "It was around 30 hours and you are seriously injured."
Mickey looked at him and searched in the room for more familiar faces, there were Liam, Debbie and Franny. He noticed his left arm was broken and he was sure his head exploded at some point and was put back together.

"Where's Ian?", Mickey mumbled, the headache was nothing against the pain in his chest when he thought Ian was so manic he wouldn't even show up at the hospital.
"I'll call that nurse", Sandy mumbled and got up as soon as she heard the name Ian.

"He's at the hospital too. After the crash, he had kind of a meltdown while you were in surgery and begged me to take him to the psych ward. He's getting the help he needs now."
Mickey closed his eyes and sighed in relief. At least some good news. The door opened again and Sandy came back with a nurse.

"When can I go see him, is he alright?", Mickey asked.
"You're going nowhere for now", the nurse said and walked around the bed, checking something, "Do you know who you are, where you are, what year we have?"
"A pissed off man in Chicago, time is an illusion, what do you mean I'm going nowhere?"
"You were in a car crash, young man."
"So? It's not like I almost died."
"No, you were lucky. But if it weren't for the other man in the car, you would have died and not just almost.", she said. She checked some more things, asked him if he was in pain, noted some things down and left again.

"What did she mean by that? I would have died?"
"Ian was only lightly injured, he was still conscious after the crash, pulled you out of the car and... He wrapped you up in all of the jackets and sweaters he was wearing and did as much EMT rescue stuff he could until some other car stopped and called an ambulance."

"For how long has he to stay in the psych ward?", Mickey asked.
"Three days, for now. Maybe longer...", Lip sighed and looked at his siblings, "Could you go outside for a moment?"
Debbie looked at him confused, "Why?"
"Just go, I need to talk to Mickey alone."
Debbie looked at him weirdly but then left the room with her daughter and younger brother.

Lip looked at Sandy, "You're living on a whole fucking other planet if you think you can throw me out, too."
Lip bit his lip and shrugged, "Okay", he sighed and looked at Mickey, "When Ian was normal in between episodes he apparently used the last bit of money he had on the account and effected insurance on the car. Maybe he kind of knew he would be manic again even though he denied the bipolar and wanted you to get some money if he would do something to the car in an episode. It's not a lot of money, not what the car was worth, but you can have it and move out if you want to. I'd get it if you would want to move out now, I'm sure Ian would get it too.", Lip sighed, "I'm not gonna tell you he needs you, you know that. But you're not responsible, you don't owe him shit. Think about it.", he said, nodded and left the room.

Sandy looked at Mickey, "So, what are you gonna do?"
"Do I need to decide that now?"
"No", Sandy shook her head and sighed, "You know I really thought, you and Ian is something for forever. That you end up getting married and shit, little domestic bitches. But look at you, you're lying in hospital with a broken arm, concussion and a pretty nasty head wound."
"Well, if he's medicated now..."
"Who says he stays medicated?", Sandy asked, "You don't owe him shit, Mick. Do I think he's the right guy for you? Yes. I think you're great together. But fuck, you don't owe him, never did, and yet you did so much for him. Either he fucking steps up or you should just leave him. He didn't earn all of this from you yet. Either he earns it or this relationship is going to shit."