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Mickey was standing in the street right in front of the curb smoking a cigarette. He was getting a few glances and glares from some of the other parents standing in front of the school. Mickey ignored the looks and just gave a wave, cigarette pinched in his mouth. He was ready to argue with any yuppie, west side parent who approached him that he wasn’t technically on school property and that they could fuck right off. Parents looked away when Mickey acknowledged them, which brought a slight smile to his lips as he placed the cigarette between his fingers, blowing the smoke upwards.
The moment he heard the school bell tone he quickly flicked what remained of his cigarette and started onto the school grounds. It only took a few seconds before groups of kids came running out of their classrooms and to their parents. Mickey patiently waited, knowing that his little one was always one of the last ones to emerge. After a few minutes the double doors opened and Mickey spotted her teacher, Ms. Stage, emerging from the building with his daughter in tow. Lina was holding her teacher's hand while her free hand was twirling her side ponytail. She was looking around, but couldn’t see her father with the sea of kids and parents around him.
Mickey waved and caught the attention of Ms. Stage. She gave a wave back and looked down at Lina, he assumed she was telling her that she spotted Mickey. They made their way to his general area, and the moment Lina spotted him she pulled away from her teacher's grasp and ran over to her father. Mickey squatted down with a huge smile on his face and braced himself for impact.
“Hey! There she is. Oof!” Mickey verbally reacted as Lina collided with his chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head into his chest. Mickey returned her hug and looked up as Ms. Stage approached the two of them.
“Hi Mr. Milkovich. It’s nice to see you again.” She greeted him sweetly.
Mickey went to stand only to receive a whine from Lina. He kept a hand on her back as he stood, Lina now hugging his leg.
“Really? Still with the Mr. Milkovich thing?” He asked the teacher, brows raised slightly. Ms. Stage, Riley was her first name, was only about 2 years younger than Ian, so the whole ‘Mr. Milkovich’ thing was weird for him to hear. Riley was also the person who helped get them into the learning center that Lina attended often during the week.
“It’s nice to see you again, Mickey.” Riley humored him. She held out Linas's backpack toward Mickey.
“Yeah, same here. How’d she do today?” Mickey asked, grabbing the backpack and looking down at Lina, taking note of her quietness.
“We had a bit of a tough day.” Riley replied, giving a sad smile. “Lina was fine during morning work, but the rest of the day just wasn’t as engaged as she normally is. She kept to herself, and she was having a tough time focusing. She also wasn’t much of a talker today.”
He sighed to himself. This was a conversation him and Ian had just the night before, so this was expected.
Ian and Mickey did their best to keep Lina on an established routine. They were lucky compared to some of the parents that they had spoken with at the center. With their job schedules and help from the rest of the Gallaghers, Lina was able to keep a structured routine. That was not the case this week. Things were coming up left and right that altered her normal schedule almost everyday.
Monday, when she normally stays with Lip in the afternoon, spent it with Kev, V and the girls at the Alibi. Tuesday and Wednesday, Ian was called in to cover for Raul leaving Debbie to do the after-school pickups and take Lina to the center. Except, Debbie only took her to the center on Tuesday. She got an emergency call for a job and left Lina at the Gallagher house on Wednesday in Carl's care. Yesterday was going fine until Mickey had to go and handle a situation one of his brothers got into during a delivery, which meant that he wasn’t at the warehouse when Sandy got there with Lina and that was the final straw for the little girl. She was mid meltdown when Mickey got back. It took him over an hour to get her calm.
Today was gonna be yet another day that strayed from her routine. School had let out at 12:30 instead of 3 for teacher meetings and the center was closing early as well. Ian and Mickey were both preparing for Lina to have another meltdown or, possibly, a shutdown. Based on what Riley just described to him, they were in shutdown territory.
“Is that right?” Mickey directed down toward Lina. She just played with the loose strings hanging from the hole of Mickey distressed jeans.
“She did, however, do a great job at using her communication book. Did you and Mr. Gall- , I mean, Ian, end up getting one set up for her?” Riley asked, gaining back his attention.
“Yeah. One of the counselors at the center helped get one together for us.” Mickey answered.
“Has it been helpful at home?” Riley asked hopefully.
“Don’t know. We haven’t used it yet. She’s always been good about using her words or her hands at home.” Mickey informed her. Before he could say anything else he felt Lina tugging on her backpack to get it open. Once successful, she pulled out her slouchy turquoise beanie and shyly put it on. Mickey shared a glance with Riley, his lips tight.
“But it looks like I’ll find out today.” He flashed a nervous smile as he zipped her bag back up.
Riley gave him a sympathetic nod and bent down to Linas's level. She gently placed a hand on the girls back.
“Well, you have a good weekend, Lina. I’ll see you on Monday, okay?” Lina gave her a small wave goodbye. Satisfied with that, Riley returned the wave and gave the same gesture to Mickey before turning away.
“Ready to go, gremlin?” Mickey slung her backpack over his shoulder, bent down and lifted Lina into his arms. She locked her arms and legs around him. They started on their way home. Mickey tried to talk with her about her day but was met with silence. He adjusted his hold on Lina so he could pull out the phone from his pocket and started to text Ian.
Mickey- hey, red. Heads up, on the way home with a not so chatty kid.
Ian- Is everything ok? Did something happen?
Mickey- All the changes this week are fucking with her. Think we’re in for a shutdown.
Ian- We knew that was coming. Did Riley say anything?
Mickey- Only that Lina was quiet and didn’t give a shit about being there. She did say that she was using that communication book. Look, we’ll be there soon. Get our book ready. Time to test it out.
Finally, outside of their apartment building, Mickey set Lina down and gave her the backpack. He grabbed her hand as they made their way through the building and down the hallway to their front door. The very second he opened the door Lina was through it. She tossed her bag on the floor rather than putting it on the bag hook Ian put up and made her way into the living room. He stood at the door just watching this happen. He raised his brows and just shook his head.
“Oh, don’t worry, I got this.” He called out to her in his usual sarcastic tone and picked up her bag. He knew it was a rough week for her, so he wasn’t gonna say anything about it this time.
It was the sound of the bag dropping that caused Ian to turn his head up from his phone. Ian was seated in the armchair, which was a straight shot from the small hallway where Lina was coming from. Once she spotted him Lina went straight, hugged Ian's leg and laid her head on his knee. He placed his hand on her head and leaned to give her a kiss on the cheek.
“Hey, lady.” He said softly, giving her a head scratch through the beanie.
“Did you have a good day today?” Ian tried to ask, but just like Mickey he struck out. Lina let go of his leg and walked over to her play area in the corner of the living room. She sat down in her bean bag chair and grabbed her sloth, Flash, along with one of her squishy gel filled toys.
“Good to know she’s not talking to you too.” Mickey commented to Ian as he entered the room. The two dads watched for a minute as Lina poked away at her toy. The two men talked quietly amongst themselves for a few moments before heading into the kitchen. Ian took a seat at the counter while Mickey grabbed a drink from the fridge.
“Come here, Lina. Daddy wants to show you something.” Ian called out to her. Lina set her toy down and walked over to Ian, cuddling her sloth friend into her chest. Ina picked her up and sat her in his lap. On the counter in front of him was a slim, light blue binder. On the front were a few butterfly stickers and letter stickers that spelt out ‘Lina’ and ‘Communication Book’. Ian slid the binder closer so Lina could examine it herself. She reached her hand out, tracing the stickers with her fingers. Mickey just watched from the other end of the counter.
“It’s just like the book at the center and school.” Ian explained to the little brunette in his lap. He grabbed her hand in his and helped her open it up. On that first page was general information about Lina. Her age, a little bit about her and her diagnosis, emergency contact information as well as a picture of her. Upon seeing the first page, Lina immediately looked up at Ian and smiled, tapping at the picture of her. Ian smiled at her and nodded his head.
“Yeah, that’s you. This is a special one made just for you. Let’s see what else is in here.” Mickey watched as Lina turned the pages and Ian explained each one to her.
The page after hers was a family page. Pictures and names of her family and their relationship to her. Other pages included her daily routines, an emotion chart, pain/sick, letters and numbers, food/snacks, places, core words and a page that had all of her favorite things to do, watch and play with.
Mickey made his way over and took a seat on the stool adjacent to his husband and daughter.
“That’s pretty cool, huh?” Mickey said to her in an upbeat tone.
The two men sat patiently for the next few minutes as their child took her time looking at all the pages. Rushing her was not something either of them wanted to do. Ian eventually started the needed conversation.
“Ms. Stage said you had a rough day. Can you tell us why?” He looked at her and rubbed her back gently as he asked. The little girl's face changed slightly as she leaned back in her dads lap. She pulled the book off the counter and into her lap. With Ian's help, she turned to the page of different emotions. She took a second before pointing to an image.
Sad
“Why are you sad?’ Ian asked her. He looked up and shared a quick glance with Mickey as she turned the pages, searching for her answer. She landed on the page with various places that she goes to. She pointed again.
No
center
“I know, baby.” Ian said sympathetically and gave her a squeeze. Her finger pointed toward the different core words about.
I
want
to go
center
She looked sadly up at Ian and then over to Mickey. She was having difficulty understanding why she couldn't go. Mickey gave her a sad smile and moved his stool a little closer.
“You can’t today, kiddo. They closed early just like your school did. If you go, you’re gonna be the only one there.” Mickey explained to her. He went to reach his hand out to her, but she wasn’t having it.
Unhappy and clearly upset with her fathers' answer, Lina started to whine and squirm in Ian's lap. Ian held her close to keep her from falling. She pushed the binder off her lap, and it hit the floor with a slap. She pressed her feet up against the wall of the counter and pushed as hard as she could to try and get out of Ian's grasp. Whines and sounds of discomfort continued to come from her. It wasn’t until she threw her stuffed sloth, almost hitting Mickey, that Ian decided something needed to be said.
“Hey, hey, we don’t throw.” Ian said to her sternly, trying to sit her up straight as she started to slide off his lap from all of her movement.
He did his best to shush Lina but was only met with a struggle. She started to cry, pulling her beanie down until it came off. She flung it onto the floor and started to kick the wall and accidentally kicked Ian in the process.
“Melina. No kicking.” Ian said in a no-nonsense tone through his teeth. Lina kicked again, this time Ian let out a verbal ‘ow’ and that was the final straw for Mickey.
He stood up quickly, the stool he was sitting in sliding back. He bent down so he was at eye level with his daughter. He grabbed her legs to stop her from kicking Ian or the wall again. Linas' eyes met Mickeys and she saw how serious he was. She cried out and pointed to the book that still laid on the floor. Mickey grabbed it and set it onto the counter. She flipped through the book landing on the emotions page and aggressively tapped the picture she was searching for.
Frustrated
Mickey closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Both men knew she couldn't help how she was feeling. Her reactions were involuntary, but that didn’t mean she could act out. She knew better. Ian continued to hold her as his husband put a hand under their daughter's chin, forcing her to look at Mickey.
“You can be frustrated all you want, but you need to use your words or your book to talk to me and daddy. It’s not okay to start kicking and throwing things. I get that you’re having a hard time, but you’ve already been told twice to stop. If it happens again, you’re gettin’ a timeout.” Mickey said seriously.
The little girl looked at Mickey, tears still in her eyes. Whenever her Papa made a threat about time outs, he always came through on them. Ian would sometimes give her extra warnings, but with Mickey it was always three strikes and you’re in the chair.
“Sorry” She signed.
“Good choice.” Mickey said assuringly. She slowly started to calm down and curled up into Ian's lap. He rocked a little bit and rubbed her back.
“There were a few big changes this week to your routine. Is that why you’re so upset?” Ian asked her. Mickey, now standing, moved the book closer to Lina so she could answer. She pointed.
Yes
Ian laid his head on top of Linas and let out a sigh.
“Lina, sometimes things happen, and we have to change our plans. There is nothing wrong with you being sad and upset. But it’s important to tell an adult so we can help. Do you understand?” Ian gave her a small nudge. She pointed again.
Yes
“Okay then. Tell me and Papa what we can do to help you feel better.” Ian watched her carefully as she started to twirl her hair. She had her thinking face on, and Mickey couldn't fight the smile pulling at his lips. Her lips pouted slightly, and her brows furrowed as she tried to figure out what she wanted. She flipped to where she wanted and pointed again.
I
Want
Snack
“A snack sounds great. What do you want?” Ian pointed and told her each of the snack options that he knew they had in the house. Lina excitedly pointed at the peanut butter and grape jelly Uncrustables and a fruit punch Capri Sun.
Ian gave her a chuckle and gave her a kiss to the side of her head.
“Good choice, baby. You know where they are. You can go get ‘em.” Mickey plucked her from Ian's lap and set her on the ground, giving her butt a pat as she made her way to the fridge. Ian told her she had to pick up her beanie and Flash before she could go and eat her snack.
She happily obeyed and then enjoyed her snack in her play area. Mickey set her binder on the coffee table in the living room, so it was easily accessible to her if she needed it. Not too long after her snack had been devoured, she shuffled over to where Ian was sitting on the couch. Lina opened up her binder and went to a page that had a small clock with moving hands, next to it was an open space and a small bag of Velcro numbers. She wanted to know what time it was. Lina reached up and pulled on Ian's wrist where he wore his watch. Ian got the hint and got down on the floor with her.
“Where is the little hand?” He pointed to his watch and then toward her clock. Lina grabbed his wrist to look and moved the clock hand.
1
“And the big hand?” He asked again, pointing to his watch. Lina repeated her previous action and moved the big hand.
6
“So that means it’s…” Ian watched as she tried to figure it out. He thought her concentration was adorable. Mickey, coming out of the bathroom, walked into his daughter carefully counting each tick mark on the clock. He looked at Ian confused, and Ian just shook his head in amusement. He waited for her to go dig through the bag of numbers and stick them onto the page.
1:30
“That’s right! Good job!” Ian lifted his hand and gave Lina a high five. She clapped happily. Mickey joined his family on the floor and gave Lina an audible kiss on the cheek, just to watch her giggle.
Now knowing the time, Lina flipped to a page that was all about her school day. It had her Riley's information, the kids in her class and her daily classroom routine. She patted Mickey's leg and pointed to her class schedule. From 1:10- 2:00 she would be working on math. It took Ian a second to catch on before he got up from the floor. Lina wanted to do what she normally would be doing if it was a regular Friday afternoon. Ian came back with a few different math worksheets he got from the center, a box of crayons, a small chair and a bag of these little Disney toys that she liked to collect. Ian started to set things up for her and Mickey pulled her into his lap.
“You wanna do math? Sure, you don’t wanna watch a movie or go down to the pool or something fun?” Mickey wanted to be sure that this is what she wanted. The last thing he would want to do if he had gotten off work early was do more work at home. Lina nodded her head confidently, earning a hair ruffle from her father.
For the next half hour, they worked on subtracting worksheets, and a few add by color pages. The favorite though was when the Disney toys came into play. Ian would give her problems and she would use the figures to give her answer. The REAL fun part was when Ian gave her a subtraction problem. He would take the figures away and throw them at Mickey with a playful grin. This of course made Lina laugh and made Mickey annoyed. Eventually their math lesson turned into how many times can Daddy throw Disney princesses at Papa before he gets mad.
At around 2:30 is when Linas's teacher would be reading a story to the class. Lina brought over one of her favorite books over to Mickey and dropped it in his lap. She flipped to her favorite things page and pointed to the image of a book.
Will you read to me?
Mickey wasn’t gonna tell her no, she wasn’t gonna accept it either. He felt himself being pulled by the hand over to her bean bag chair. Mickey got comfortable and pulled her in his lap and read the story.
The rest of the day was pretty normal for them. They had lunch, played a few games and watched some tv. Lina really was doing a great job using her communication book. It wasn’t long before the sunset and dinner was had. Ian and Mickey were cleaning up the kitchen while Lina was watching The Little Mermaid. It wasn’t even 20 minutes into the movie when Lina came stumbling into the kitchen and went up to Ian. She hugged his leg and signed to him.
"Tired"
He picked her up and she laid her head on his shoulder.
“I got this.” Mickey told his husband. Ian nodded and bounced Lina gently in his arms.
“You want to start getting ready for bed, baby?” He asked her softly.
Her nighttime routine was pretty much the only consistent thing to happen to her all week, so it was no trouble at all for Ian. He got her washed up, in some comfy pjs and got her hair and teeth brushed. Ian carried her out of the bathroom and set her down, but not before giving her a big hug and a kiss.
“You’re all done. Go tell Papa you’re ready for bed.” Ian told her and she tiredly made her way over to Mickey. He turned from his spot on the couch and reached his arms out for her. He pulled her onto his lap and grabbed her binder and already had it open to her nighttime page.
“All right, kiddo. What’s it gonna be tonight?” Mickey asked her. On the page were a few options of what she wanted before bedtime.
“Why don’t you sing to her tonight, Mick?” Ian snickered from behind his husband. Mickey glared over his shoulder and then focused back on Lina, combing his fingers through her hair.
“Ain’t we supposed to avoid sending her into sensory overload? I’ll leave that to you, Ed Sheeran.” Mickey fired back over his shoulder at his now smirking lover. Lina pointed to her choice.
Cuddle
Mickey let out a loud sigh and slumped his shoulders.
“Ugh! If I have to.” He said dramatically, give her side a quick tickle. She giggled and slid off his lap. Mickey stood up and didn’t even get to start making his way to his daughter's room before she was behind him pushing him. He purposely took slow steps before she went in front of him and started pulling his hand instead. Mickey scoffed.
“She’s just as demanding as your ass.” He threw the remark to the redhead in the kitchen as Mickey disappeared into the hallway leading to Linas room.
As soon as they entered the room Mickey turned on the star night light that sat on the edge of her dresser and turned off her light. Stars filled the room, and it was just enough light that Mickey could still see where he was going without tripping over something. Lina was pointing over to the rocking chair in the corner of the bedroom. It was surrounded by some stuffed animals and a small shelf with her favorite books. They didn’t use it as often anymore, but it came in handy when Lina wanted extra comfort. Mickey sat in the chair and pulled Lina up into his lap. She instantly curled herself up, laying her head against him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Slowly, he started to rock the chair and started humming. Lina absentmindedly played with Mickey's wedding ring.
Being worked up from the week and all the emotions from today really tired the little one out, because it only took a few minutes before she was sound asleep in her dads lap. Mickey gently brought the rocking to a stop and adjusted Lina in his arms as he stood to put her in bed. He laid her down and put her favorite stuffed animal, a purple penguin named Percy, in her arms. She was all tucked in. Mickey brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
“Night, princess.” He whispered. Mickey turned to leave when a small voice stopped him in his tracks.
“Night, Papa.” Lina whispered back tiredly. Mickey turned and looked at his daughter with soft eyes and smiled.
“That didn’t take long.” Ian pointed out as Mickey joined him on the couch. Mickey gave him a nod.
“Kid was out like a light after 5 minutes.” Mickey informed his husband. He kicked his feet up onto the table, tapping his foot against the communication binder still sitting on the table.
“This thing was pretty helpful today. I like it” Mickey admitted. He wasn’t sure about the whole AAC thing when he first learned about it. He didn’t think Lina needed it since she was a pretty verbal kid. He got that it was vital to many kids and adults with autism, he just didn’t get how helpful it was to his own child until she really needed it.
“Definitely. I did miss hearing her little chatter today.” Ian leaned his head against Mickey's shoulder. Mickey let out a chuckle and patted Ian on the knee.
“Sucks to suck, bitch. I got a ‘night papa’ after I put her down.” He smirked oh so proudly. Ian turned his head up to Mickey, an astonished look on his face.
“Asshole.” Ian said as his husband continued to smirk.
The two stayed like this for a few minutes before Ian sat up. He crossed his arms and let his shoulders sink a little, glaring at Mickey from the corner of his eye. Catching the glance, Mickey looked at him confused.
“What’s with you?” Mickey asked.
Ian averted his eyes away from Mickey as he reached for the binder. Mickey's confusion and curiosity grew as Ian flipped through the pages. He thought Ian was having some kind of weird episode. Ian turned the binder to Mickey and pointed.
Annoyed
Mickey raised his eyebrows and stared at his husband.
“Oh really?” Mickey asked playfully, he rubbed his hand up and down Ian's thigh and gave a quick bite and lick of the lips.
“What can I do to make you feel better, pouty face?” Mickey turned his body to face Ian.
Ian turned his body as well to face Mickey. He quickly turned to the exact page he wanted and turned it to Mickey and pointed at the words.
I
Want
Ian turned the page and pointed to a very specific photo.
Papa
Mickey let out a low moan and reached his hand up and ran it through Ian's hair. The other remained on Ian's thigh.
“Good Choice.” Mickey praised, scooching closer to his lover. He was practically in Ian's lap with how close he was getting.
“Thank you” Ian signed leaning in, wrapping his arms around Mickey's shoulders and kissing him.
It took mere seconds before the binder in Ian's lap was discarded onto the floor and replaced by Mickey. If he hadn’t realized it earlier, he certainly did now.
It’s a great communication tool.