Chapter Text
6:13 AM, November 2nd, 2043 - present day
It had snowed the night before. As did it every night that week. Mickey was never a huge fan of the snow and could never wrap his head around why Ian was so fond of it.
It was cold as shit, the roads were slippery and all the excess layers made impromptu quickies with his husband that much harder. Mickey saw no silver lining no matter how hard Ian insisted.
Plus, the heating in their house was terrible, making winter all that much more of a pain in Mickey’s ass.
Their home was old. Almost downright, historic. When they had first bought it, an odd nineteen years ago, they both knew that the quaint blue house at the end of the street was going to be where they grew old, despite any flaws. Sure, the floorboards creaked and there was a slight chance someone bleed out in the upstairs bathroom but the house had good bones.Four bedrooms, a huge yard and that old Southside charm.
Their block seemed to be one of the only ones mostly untouched by the gentrifiers. Even the old Gallagher home was now unrecognisable. Wallace Street was no more, now ‘Haworthia Ln’. Ian had explained that it was named after some type of succulent but Mickey always thought it sounded like either a bad hipster cover band or an STD.
Despite all the changes to the neighbourhood from when he was a boy, Mickey honestly didn’t think he would change anything to how it was.Except installing better insulation in the house.They really needed better heating.
For the time being, Mickey was perfectly content in his warm bed, under several layers of duvet comforters. He felt Roma, their pit bull mix, snore at the edge of the bed. She was probably slobbering all over the sheets but that was something to be annoyed about later. For now, his attention was focused on snuggling against his furnace of a husband.
Mickey pulled Ian’s hand around his waist tighter, making the two impossibly close. A sigh of content as Ian shuffled in his sleep, smacking his lips a few times before his head burrowed into Mickey’s hair.
At that moment in time life was overwhelmingly peaceful, quiet and warm.
Then it was over. Banging sounded. It stopped. Started up again, more pronounced than before. A voice followed, “Dads?”
As much as Mickey wanted to ignore the noise, Ian stirring beside him was a pretty clear indicator that he wasn’t going to be able to sleep through this.
Mickey felt the warm air of Ian’s yawn hit the nape of his neck, his heavy-lidded eyes blinked open. They slowly focused on the clock on his nightstand. He squinted trying to read it; 6:13 AM. For fuck sake.
“Dads! Fair warning I’m coming in, in five” Ruby stood outside her parent’s closed door. She leaned her weight to one side of her body, mentally counting to five before bursting into the room. Both hands on her face. Fingers sprawled out, her eyes hidden behind her palms.
“My good?” She stood at the foot of their bed, waiting for the ok to remove.
Mickey tried to sit up to get a better look at her, a task made almost impossible with Ian’s arms wrapped tightly around his middle. “What the hell would we be doing at six-fuckin-A.M?” Mickey croaked from his place in bed, his eyes squinting up at her.
Ruby’s hands made their way off her face, raising in the air in mock surrender. “Hey, rather be safe than sorry”
A few months ago, at Mickey’s birthday party, the two had snuck off to a room for a quickie. Debbie had the displeasure of accidentally walking in on them. Since then, at their expense, the family would cover their eyes before walking into a room with Ian and Mickey. The inside joke became a pretty permanent fixture to the Gallagher’s.
Mickey just grumbled something unintelligible. He squeezed his eyes shut as Ruby reached over to turn the light on in the previously dim room.
“Oh my Go- Sleepin’ here!” Mickey dug himself deeper under the covers. His eyes burning from the sudden light.
Ian didn’t seem half as annoyed, releasing his husband from his grasp to stretch his arms above his head. “Whaddya need, sweetheart?”
Mickey felt Roma’s tail hit his ankle excitedly, figuring if he opened his eyes he’d see Ruby kneading the fur atop the dog's head.
”Do you know where my red scarf is?”
“Are you seriously waking us up at the ass-fucking-crack of dawn to ask about a fuckin scarf?” Mickey’s head reemerged. Ruby just stared at him, blinking once. Then twice.
“My favourite scarf”
“The one Lip knitted?” Ian chimed in.
“Yeah!”
Mickey twisted around and hit his husband against the chest, hard. “Hey, assholes! Can we maybe continue this conversation when the sun is up?”
Both Ian and Ruby stared at him unresponsive. Ruby had this goofy tentative look she’d been making since baby. Her bottom lip curled inward, eyes went wide and brows slacked downward. It always took Mickey his hardest to stifle a laugh when she made that face.
He looked back over to his nightstand. A gold picture frame stood idly behind his phone and a poorly concealed bottle of lube. The photo was almost as old as Ruby herself, the glass a little yellowed, the corner of the frame was cracked. Despite its ageing faults, the photo was one of Mickey’s favourites.
Ian and Mickey stood over their old dining room table. Between them was a few months old Ruby. It was the first day she had been placed with them. Her baby expression was the same one she made standing in front of Mickey that morning.
9:27 AM, June 7th, 2026 - 17 years and 24 days ago
Ian had almost missed the phone call completely in his haze of sleep. It was late in the morning for him but Gallagher's dinner from the night before really wore him out. He didn’t check caller ID first, assuming it was Lip or one of his guys calling about something to do with the new house.
He and Mickey had recently become homeowners to a property right on the edge of the South Side. It could be argued that they were still over on the Westside but swearing up and down they weren’t was always a hill Mickey was willing to die on. The state of the house was short of unlivable meaning they had to gut most of it. Lip, who had gotten into the house flipping business, offered to help them fix their house for cheap.
“Yeah?” Ian’s voice was scratchy, sleep riddled. Instead of Lip’s voice, he heard Carl frantically stumbling over his words.
“Hey, Ian? Were you and Mick serious when you said you were ready for a placement? ‘Cus I think I might have one readily available. Like now”
Carl had made the career switch into social work about a year prior to that call. It became increasingly apparent that being a cop was something Carl couldn’t stay doing. There were a few stagnant months after Ian and Mickey’s first-anniversary party where he was kinda in between jobs. His old partner, Tipping’s eventually bought the Alibi so Carl spent most of his time helping Arthur rebrand. Carl’s hours doing his actual real police job, dropped less and less each week. That was until Bryn Tilly joined the force.
Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and needed to be trained as the new meter maid. The two instantly clicked. She was a little older than Carl and a total package. Smart, pretty, funny - she even laughed at his ‘meter-master jokes. But above all, she was undeniably a little crazy. Which seemed to be a calling card when it came to the Gallagher’s picking their partners.
She wasn’t a ‘gonna chop Carl’s dick after one inconvenient fight’ crazy but rather an unhinged quirky type of crazy. Their first official date had been at Frank’s funeral -held an odd four months after his actual death date because of Covid- and she was okay with that, no questions asked. Even a little excited to see another real dead body. Carl tried not to blink an eye at the word, another.
As Carl got to know his girlfriend more he realised how fucked up of a childhood she had. One close to rivalling the Milkovich’s upbringing. Her dad had some ties to a Romanian mob which brought on its old slew of shady problems.
In a story she told the Gallagher’s all so casually over coffee, he had sold her once. Used as bait for a sting mission. Moonlighted in making her help with money laundering. Plus, she had accidentally gotten into lean once as a toddler - “Ha! Me too with coke, I think” Liam chimed in. None of his siblings found reliving that memory funny.
Because of her home life, she found herself staying at her mom’s a lot. Betty wasn’t her biological mom unless Bryn was somehow a reverse Liam situation. The older woman was a kind social worker that took Bryn under her wing.
Upon meeting Betty, everything in Carl’s life clicked. He still wanted to help out his community despite hating his law enforcement career. Maybe being a social worker was a way he could still make a difference. Stay citizen Carl. Plus, he had been through the system a few times himself, the personal experience did help.
With the support and encouragement of Bryn, Carl quit the force to put his time into studying social work and running the bar.
Arthur died, shortly after Carl went back to school. He had passed in some sort of sausage related casualty -“What the fuck is that supposed to mean” Mickey was quick to comment-. Upon his passing, as stated in his will, the Alibi was left in Carl's name.
Another curveball in a Gallagher's way to success. Carl very clearly didn’t know the first thing about running a business, finding himself at a crossroad. On one hand, he was absolutely clueless. On the other, the Alibi was a very reliable source of income after the change to a -mostly- cop bar. The bar was much cleaner, shoes didn’t stick to the floor anymore. There wasn’t mould in the bathroom and people could actually breathe through their noses again. There were photos of the old police station on the wall. Actual food options and a pinball machine in the corner.
Despite these minor changes, the Alibi was pretty much the same. Even the patrons -just Tommy and Kermit- had to agree the changes were good.
Selling wasn’t the most lucrative option in the long run. Eventually, the decision was reached; keep the Alibi but make it a family effort. Lip did the taxes. An alcoholic helping to run a bar? There was some cosmic irony. Mickey and Ian handled the vendors, Debbie did any repairs needed to keep the place looking ok and Sandy basically ran the place as a bartender. The family knew Kev and Vee appreciated that they kept the bar, plus the extra money at the end of the month was an appreciated bonus.
“Ian” Carl repeated after a few moments of stoic silence. “You still there?”
“What? Uh yeah, sorry. But yeah, yes Mickey and I are”
Carl sighed in relief. “Thank fuck. Listen, I got a girl here, we can’t tell how old but definitely under one. We’re pretty desperate for a placement, can I come by now? I’m like twenty minutes out”.
“Yeah, yeah, of course”
“Great man, thanks. You’re really saving my ass right now. I’ll tell you more info when I’m there” There was a brief moment of silence as both of them caught their breaths. “Ok, see ya in a bit, bye”. The line went cold.
Ian felt as his heart dropped down to his ass as he quickly threw the sheets off of him, scrambling to get out of bed.
He all but ran to the main space of the apartment. As suspected Mickey sat at the dining table, typing away at his computer. Mickey had recently found himself not only doing the finances for their own business but one of the companies they carried for in an unexpected, but beneficial, career move.
“Mickey!’ Ian frantically made his way to stand next to his husband. His voice had come out louder than intended.
“Christ man, why you yellin?” Mickey didn’t bother to look up from his keyboard.
“Mick, we’re getting a baby!”
That caught Mickey’s attention. In a swift motion, the dark-haired man shut the lid of his computer, looking up at Ian’s eyes.
“You’re shittin me right now”
Ian frantically shook his, reaching down to hug Mickey. In his excitement, he lifted the shorter man up. “Carl just called, they have a baby. Baby girl”
Mickey let his head nuzzle into the crook of Ian’s neck. He was truly at a loss for words but knew Ian was expecting some sort of response.“Holy fuck” was the only words he could seem to string together.
“Yeah” Ian just kinda breathed. Both of them let out a laugh to relieve any tension.They rocked there in the middle of their apartment for a second before realizing that they were going to be sharing their space with a baby.
Mickey would be lying if he said he didn’t think about kids once a day since Ian initially brought it up in their one year. In all honesty, it started negatively.When he and Ian went out and there was a kid around he silently prayed Ian wouldn’t hint that he wanted one of his own and they’d have to relive that conversation all over again.That fight, again . At the time he was content with them being just Ian and Mickey. He didn’t need anything to get in the way of that.
That was until ironically, he started to work on his relationship with Ian.Trying to become more open and vulnerable.He was quick to realise that he was nothing like his own dad. Terry would have never tried that hard, for anything. Still, Mickey wasn’t quite ready to have kids yet but he didn’t hate the idea.
That was until two years before that June day. He and Ian were babysitting their nephew, Robbie while Lip and Tami took his brother to the dentist. Ian had gone out to go get groceries leaving Mickey alone with the kid.
Maybe it was years of healing or maybe it was that Robbie had hair strikingly similar to his husband. Whatever it was, something in Mickey just clicked as he lowered his nephew into the pack-and-play. ‘Holy fuck, I wouldn’t mind one of my own’.
Mickey was able to keep this revelation to himself, he needed to for maximum payoff because then came Ian’s birthday.
“Ight tough guy got you one last thing” Mickey reached into his jeans back pocket to retreat a small card. He tossed it over to Ian who looked at it quizzically then backed up with Mickey, his eyebrows wiggling in anticipation.
Ian would have expected a ‘surprise we’re getting divorce!’ card before what he opened.
It was a small red card. A cartoon tomato on the front, the font above it stated: congrats on your cherry tomato!
Inside the card wasn’t any more helpful in aiding Ian piece together what was happening. Just a little note scribbled down in Mickey’s messy handwriting.
Happy birthday hot stuff
love you,
- Mick
Ian closed the card again, scanning the front of the card. When he realised the tomato was wearing a diaper.
“You're pregnant?” Ian looked back up at Mickey, unsure of what was happening.
Mickey rolled his eyes with affection, leaning down. Ian shuttered at Mickey’s hot breath as he whispered, “No, dumbass. I think it's time we seriously start lookin’ into getting a baby”.
Ian’s eyes immediately went wet. Staring at Mickey for the third time that night as he pulled back away. Ian attacked his husband’s lips, cupping his face.
“I’m still not sure how good of a dad I’m gonna be but I want to try. I want a kid, man. A family. With you”
Ian couldn’t help the tears falling from his wide-eyes. He made no attempt to wipe them away with the sleeve of his sweater. “Mickey- This, this is the best thing you could ever give me”
“Better than that wake-up blowie this mornin’?”
“Yes!” Ian’s voice was strained with emotions, ignoring the dark-haired man’s laughter.
Mickey grabbed Ian’s hand, stroking the skin under his thumb. “Love ya,” Another passion-filled kiss. “Let's try to see if there’s anyway we can maybe adopt, ‘kay?”
And they did. With the help of Carl, they were pre-approved for fostering despite their seedy past.
Since then, they started to collect a few baby things here and there. After all, they could get the call at any time. They pulled the old Fisher-Ball crib from their spare room, dusting it off the best they could. Along with some of Franny’s and Freddie’s hand-me-downs. Since they had no clue how big the kid was, Ian pulled clothes out in every size they had.
Carl arrived shortly after they were able to put sheets in the crib and clean some bottles. He entered the apartment, a car seat with a sleeping baby in hand. Ian was quick to grab the diaper bag that was sliding down his shoulder.
“Thanks again, guys” He huffed, placing the carrier on the dining table. Carl unclasped the seatbelt across her chest, slightly scratching at her stomach as the baby stirred awake. When her eyes finally opened she spotted three men looking down. Her eyes were kinda similar to Ian’s, just a little darker. That was the first thing Mickey noticed about the baby. Olive green with honey brown towards the centre.
The four of them had a staredown, the three men not daring to move. As if the tiniest breath would crack her like a porcelain doll. She eventually decided that the guys were alright, giving them a gummy smile, a single tooth visible. She reached her hands out.
“Hey there, little lady” Ian was the first to break the silence. He extended a finger in her direction, her open hand latching around it.
“She seems pretty calm,” Carl interrupted. Mickey and Ian looked at him intensely, like every word from his lips were sacred. “Didn’t cry at all when we were in the office or on the car ride here”
“She got a name?” Mickey’s eyes didn’t leave Ian. He could tell Ian was already in love with the girl. His eyes were impossibly soft as his other hand reached up to stroke her cheek.
“No,” Carl huffed. “To be honest we know nothing about her. We’re thinking she’s about five, six months. Maybe older but hard to tell. We took her prints hoping they match somewhere other than that hoping someone knows something”
“Where’d she come from?”
“Bryn’s team had a raid. They got an anonymous tip that some people were running a meth lab. When they busted in they found her” Carl looked up to gauge the men's expression. Both grimaced at the thought of the kid amongst the junkies and heavy exposure to chemicals. “Bryn said they questioned all the people they brought in. No one owned up to being a parent. She’s thinking maybe they left her as collateral? Said that used to happen a lot to her when she was a kid”
“Any chance her mom’s coming back for her?” Ian’s eyes laid off the infant for the first time since her arrival.
Carl just winced in response. “Probably not? There’s a chance she wasn’t going to come back in the first place. And now, if she comes forward to say that’s her kid she’s facing the chance of serving time. If not for child endangerment then for the drugs which would-”
“Lead us right back here with the kid in the system” Mickey chimed in, rubbing his thumb against his creasing brow.
“...Yeah” Carl sucked his lips in, his hands awkwardly fidgeting against the car keys in his pocket. “So you sure you guys are good to take her? It’ll be for a minimum of seventy-two hours while we try to figure shit out. Things have been hectic at work”
“Yeah, yes” Ian finally retracted his hand, hugging Carl. “Thank you” His voice was barely above a whisper.
They pulled apart, Carl clasped his older brother's shoulder with a firm pat. “Yeah of course. I’ll swing by after work to bring some more supplies. There’s some diapers and formula in the bag. Not sure if she’s eaten any solids yet” He nodded his chin over the diaper bag that had been discarded next to the door. “I need to take a photo of you guys”
“Why?” Mickey was quick to raise a brow.
Carl gave a nervous shrug. “It’s a tradition of mine, I always take a photo when I do a placement”
Ian quickly threw an arm around Mickey who stood at the opposite side of the table. He drew their bodies close, as he kneaded Mickey’s shoulder as they both cheesed the camera. The baby didn’t understand what was happening, her face contorting in confusion as she babbled on.
Carl would later send them the photo via text, with something along the lines of lol look at her face.
At an even later date, Carl would give them a printed version of that same photo in a gold frame. A present for her official adoption.
Carl left shortly after the photo was snapped, leaving the two men to figure everything else out by themselves.
As Carl had suspected she was a very calm baby. Liked to smile and make cooing noises. The boys also figured out pretty fast that she would burst into tears any time she was put down.
“C’mere” Ian motioned to Mickey with his hips, both arms snug around the baby. “You should hold her”
Mickey inched tentatively, his eyes scanning Ian unsurely.
“You’re not gonna drop her” Ian spoke again, reading Mickey’s mind. “C’mon” He ushered his husband in the direction of the living room “Sit on the couch like Freddie had to when he held Robbie as a baby”
“Fuck you” He did as asked. Carefully Ian lowered the baby into Mickey’s arms.
“Hey there, kid,” Mickey said softly, getting a gurgle in response. He couldn’t contain his smile. “She’s a cute little fucker”
Ian went silent just watching Mickey interact with her. Her pudgy little hands reached for his face. Mickey leaned in, letting her pat his cheek and grab at his nose. Ian’s heart fluttered in his chest, this was what he always wanted.“She likes you”
“She’s not too bad herself, huh kid?” Mickey adjusted her in his lap, watching as she snuggled into his elbow pit.
“She needs a name. We can’t just keep calling her ‘kid’”
Mickey gave a nod, looking up at Ian. “Yeah but I have some ground rules”
“Rules?” Ian couldn’t help the smile that formed. Rules meant that Mickey had thought about this before.
“Yup, like guidelines. No naming her after any of our crazy-ass family members. I’m not calling this kid fucking Phillipa because you love your brother so much. She deserves her own fuckin name. Also, nothing starting with an M or an I cus’ that’s corny as fuck. Oh and nothing gay”
“How can a name be gay?”
Mickey thought an eye roll would suffice as an answer. “And we both have to agree on the name. We’re not pulling a Lip and Tami and naming the kids before consoling each other first”
“Kids?”
Mickey just gave him a side-eye, his lip pursing as he avoided any type of answer. “Shut the fuck up and go grab the fuckin computer, Gallagher”
Ian did, retreating and plopping down next to his husband.
“Okayyy” Ian typed away, “start with the top five hundred girl names?’
“Fuck, five-hundred? Shit. Yeah, go ahead”
“Okay um” His eyes scanned the page trying to find a name he liked. “What about Olivia, I always loved that name”
“Yeah ‘cuz of your weird-ass obsession with Olivia Benson. Olivia is fine but not as a first name”
“I like that as a middle name, too” Ian practically beamed, “What about Margret?’
“Too long”
“Elizabeth?”
“Christ man, that’s longer”
“Emma”
“Eh”
“Kit?”
“Might well just keep calling her kid”
“Jane”
“No”
“Amelia?”
“Sounds bitchy”
“August?”
Mickey clicked his tongue. “That’s a boy’s name”
“Names don’t have genders, Mick”
“Gallagher, just keep fuckin reading”
“Fine, um Daisy?”
“That’s gay”
“Jules?”
“Sounds like a stripper”
“Dorthea?”
“What is she fuckin’ eighty?”
“Belle?”
“If we can’t find anything better”
“Oh, what about Ruth? I like Ruth a lot”
Mickey just eyed Ian.“You have terrible fuckin taste”
“No, I don’t. Picked you, didn’t I?”
Mickey just continued to stare trying to stay deadpanned but Ian immediately noticed his cheeks glowing red. “You kissin’ my ass ain't gonna make me like that shitty name”
“Fine, how about um.., Abby?”
“I like Abby,” Mickey shrugged.
This time Ian grimaced. “I don’t”
“Why’d you read it then?”
“I’m just going through the list!”
“Fine, whatever, Abby’s out. Keep going”
Ian continued to rattle off names till he started reaching the two-hundreds. Mickey somehow found something wrong with each of them and Ian agreed for the most part.
“Ruby?”
Mickey didn’t have anything negative to say about that. “I like that”
“I do too. It’s cute” Ian’s hand reached out to brush the baby’s cheek. Her eyes snapped over to him.
“What’da think? Do you wanna be Ruby?” He leaned his head down to meet her at eye level.
She went quiet before letting out a loud coo, a smile consuming her expression.
“Well, Ruby it is” Mickey joined in on a smile, lifting her to ruffle her tuft of hair.
“Ya know,” Ian chased Mickey’s lips, giving him a soft kiss.“Ruby’s kinda like Ruth and Abby put together”
Their faces were still closed together. Ian felt Mickey’s huff of amusement hit his lips “Look at us, Gallagher, compromising and shit”.
Later that night, when they were both supposed to be sleeping, Ian stared up at the ceiling. Mickey was tucked into his side, a hand haphazardly slumped across Ian’s stomach. He could hear Ruby cooing from the crib to the left of him.
This was it. Exactly what he always wanted. In his husband’s loving embrace, a baby in finger length distance.
“Mick,” Ian whispered, putting his hand on top of Mickey’s to wake him.
“What?” He groaned, shifting deeper into Ian’s side.
“That’s our baby,” He said simply.
Mickey flipped over Ian’s hand, placing it on his own with a squeeze. Mickey understood exactly what he meant .
6:15 AM, November 2nd, 2043 - back to present day
Ruby continued to stare at her dad, dead in her tracks.
Mickey just sighed, letting the grumpy exterior melt away. “Aye Brat, c’mere” he sat up, arms open.
Ruby gave a little smile before hurrying over to Mickey’s side of the bed. She leaned down onto the mattress for support as she fell into his arms.
“Love ya. Even if you’re annoying my ass this early” He squeezed, lips falling against her forehead. “Happy Birthday”
‘Happy Birthday, Baby” Ian echoed, climbing over Mickey’s lap to place a kiss atop her head.
“Fuck,” She breathed in the love. “Can’t believe I’m eighteen” She felt as Mickey placed a final kiss on her cheek, letting her loose. “I can go buy a lottery ticket. Oh or buy a fish at Petsmart, or-or join the military” Both parents huffed at that. She gave a cheeky smile, a mischievous glint in her eye. “Or legally buy a porn mag”
“Uh-huh,” Mickey hummed sarcastically, his hand reaching to pat her back. “Before you do that, how about coffee? breakfast?”
“Sweet Suzan’s?” Ian was quick to suggest.
“Ah, hell yeah! Just let me get dressed. See ya the kitchen?” Ruby gave a mock salute before skipping out of the room, Roma at her heels.
“Fuck we have an eighteen-year-old” Ian let out a sigh, falling back against the bed.