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Flying was new territory for the Gallagher's. Aside from Fiona and Lip, no one in the family had ever been on a plane before. But with the news of Fiona and Jimmy finally tying the knot, that was no longer the case. The whole family including the Balls were all flying out to Florida for the wedding.
Kev, V and the twins flew out 2 weeks early. V was the maid of honor, so they went early to help Fiona get things together and to take the girls to Disney World.
The rest of the Gallagher's, Tami included, had left a few days ago. Unfortunately work issues kept Mickey and Ian from flying out with the rest of the family. Lip and Debbie both offered to take Lina. Ian appreciated the offer, but knowing they had their own kids to handle he declined their offer. She was only a year old, and Ian knew it would make him and Mickey feel much better if she was with them.
They did everything that was suggested to them by people who have flown before. Ian checked them into the flight before leaving the apartment, making sure he had their boarding passes on his phone. Mickey had their luggage and carryon bags packed and ready.
They had an evening flight, so they made sure to have Lina nap early in hopes that she would just sleep during the flight. Just in case, Mickey made sure to have a bag with her comfort items, a few toys and some snacks to keep her distracted.
Everything went smoothly when they arrived. They got through security surprisingly fast, which was a relief to Mickey most of all. He really didn’t want to deal with any problems with the TSA or security. Once at their gate they had about an hour to kill before they were meant to board. Mickey scrolled through his phone while Ian walked with Lina by the windows so she could look at the planes.
Mickey tapped his fingers against the armrest of his chair. More and more people were gathering in their area to board the same flight. It was close to their take off time, but they weren’t getting people on to the plane.
“Why is it taking so long for them to get us on?” Mickey asked out loud.
Ian was sitting to Mickey right, holding Lina in the air and making whooshing noises as if she was flying. She was giggling and reaching for his face.
“Relax, Mick. I’m sure they’ll let us on soon.” Ian assured him. Mickey just huffed and watched Ian play with Lina. A small smile pulled at his lips. He stood up and grabbed Lina out of Ian's hands.
“Uh oh! Looks like we’ve got some turbulence.” Mickey said playfully as he cradled her in one arm and started tickling her belly. She squealed and giggled joyfully. Ian couldn’t help but laugh along. Their daughter's laughter was contagious. Bystanders were turning and smiling at the baby’s joy.
It took another hour for the airline worker to announce that they would be boarding the plane in just a few moments. Ian handed Mickey a bottle so they could get Lina settled. She had started to get a little fussy prior to the announcement, so Mickey had already started pacing and bouncing her gently to quiet her down.
Ian and Mickey were one of the first to board since they had a small child with them. Ian carried Linas's diaper bag, his backpack and a small luggage. Mickey trailed behind with Lina in his arms and a backpack. As soon as Ian got their luggage into the overhead bin, he took a seat and reached out for Mickey to hand him the baby.
Mickey watched as the rest of the passengers started to board the plane. People standing and waiting for the person in front of them to put their bags away and find their seat. He watched as people sitting in the aisle had to get up and exit the row to allow people to get to the middle and window seat. He was now very grateful that they were allowed to board before everyone else. Jimmy paid for the middle seat in their row so that they wouldn’t have to deal with having a stranger sit next to them.
With all the movement going on around them, Ian knew he wouldn’t be able to get Lina to sleep at that moment. Luckily, she was entertained by the window shade. Ian would pull it up and she would pull it back down, giggling every time she did. This lasted a few minutes before Lina leaned her head against her daddy's chest. Ian motioned for Mickey to hand him her blanket from her bag. Mickey also handed him one of her pacifiers to help keep her quiet. Ian accepted both graciously and got Lina settled in his arms.
Everyone on board was settled and ready to take off when a voice started to speak throughout the cabin.
“Evening folks, this is your captain speaking. We know that there was a delay getting you onboard this evening, and for that I apologize. Sadly, I have more unfortunate news. There seems to be an issue with our navigation system.”
The groans and comments from other passengers quickly erupted throughout the plane. Ian closed his eyes in frustration and leaned his head back against the headrest. Mickey, also in clear frustration, pinched the bridge of his nose and let out an annoyed sigh.
“This is a safety concern. We have maintenance working on the issue now and hopefully we can get on our way soon. In the event that they cannot fix it, this plane will be deemed out of order, and we will have to get everyone onto a new aircraft. I will keep you updated, and I again apologize for this delay.”
Mickey threw his arms up and looked around the plane.
“What the fuck does that mean?” He asked no one in particular. Naturally, Ian answered him.
“It means we’ll have to get off this plane and wait to get onto a new one.” Ian replied, eyes still closed and head still back. Lina started to squirm in his arms as the volume in the cabin grew as frustrated passengers expressed their annoyance at the situation. Ian tightened his grip on her and hugged her close hoping to settle her again.
“It took them forever and a day for them to get us on this one! How long would it take to get us on the next one?” Mickey asked Ian. Knowing nothing about air travel, Mickey wasn’t sure how he should be reacting to all this. He was just as annoyed as everyone around him.
“I don’t know, Mickey. This is all new to me too.” Ian replied sharply as opened his eyes and rolled his head to look at his husband. He didn’t mean to come off like an asshole to him, but Ian was already stressed about the flight prior to the delay. This was all just adding up.
Lina started to push up on Ian's chest, which led to the blanket that was covering her to fall onto the open middle seat. Ian let out a deep breath through his nose and let Lina stand in his lap and look around. She kept her pacifier in her mouth and rubbed her tired eyes with a closed fist. Mickey gave her a smile and reached over to poke her belly. She let out a whine and threw herself back against Ian's chest. Ian gave her a few comforting pats on the back.
It was another 10 minutes before the captain came back over the PA system to make a new announcement.
“All right, folks. I hate to say this, but the plane has been put out of order. We have another aircraft being prepared for us. At this time, we ask that everyone gather their luggage and exit the aircraft.”
Mickey looked at Ian in disbelief, but his face quickly softened looking at his husband's appearance. Ian's head had slumped, and it was resting on top of their daughters.
“I can’t believe this is happening.” Ian said defeated.
They waited until the majority of the plane was vacated before gathering their things and making their exit. This time Mickey grabbed all their bags while Ian carried the now sleeping baby. Back at the gate, there was a line of angry passengers waiting to vent their feelings upon the airline workers at the counter. Mickey grabbed the first set of seats he could find for them.
Ian sat and positioned Lina, so he was cradling her. The movement along with the raised voices around her caused her to stir and look up at Ian, reaching up to his face. Ian gave her a smile and grabbed her hand in his. Her wide blue eyes looked at Ian's green eyes tiredly. This was not at all how Ian pictured their first family vacation to start.
This sweet moment was short-lived.
“This is bullshit!” a man screamed at a worker from behind them.
“Jesus!” Mickey exclaimed and Ian turned to look in the direction of the angry man.
Lina opened her mouth and let out a whine, her pacifier falling from her mouth, and she squirmed out of Ian's grasp. Ian just let her set herself on the floor between his legs. He reached down and started to smooth her tousled brown hair back.
“Come on, baby girl. Shhh.” Ian tried to soothe her before she went into a full meltdown. She continued to whimper as she used Ian's legs to pull herself into a standing position.
“How the hell is she keeping her eyes open?” Mickey asked, grabbing the pacifier from Ian's lap before it fell onto the floor. Ian shrugged and kept his focus on the baby.
“She was asleep for maybe 10 minutes and then she woke up again.” Ian explained tiredly.
Much like their daughter, Mickey could see that Ian also needed to get some sleep. He worked late the night before and between that and getting everything packed, Mickey was surprised that Ian could keep his eyes open too. Mickey patted his husband on the knee.
“Let me take her for a bit. Why don’t you take a walk or something? Take a breather.” Mickey suggested. He could tell that Ian needed a minute to himself. Ian looked between Mickey and Lina before nodding.
“Yeah. I’m gonna see if I can find out what’s going on.” Ian stood up and started to walk away when Lina started to whimper. Mickey quickly bent down and picked her up.
“Hey, hey, hey.” Mickey cooed to her. He sat her down in the seat and knelt down in front of her. Lina rocked slightly in the seat and started playing with her feet.
“You know you’ve been awake since 3 o'clock? You’re only a year old! How are you still awake?” Mickey asked her in a curious but playful voice.
She looked at Mickey and babbled happily, pulling her foot up close to her face. Mickey smiled but quickly turned his smile into a fake stern face.
“It’s almost midnight, young lady. You need to go to sleep.” He pointed his finger at her and pretended to be serious.
“Ahh! Ahh!” Lina yelled at Mickey with a smile, grabbing for his finger. Mickey couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
“You talking back? I don’t think so, sweet face. I said it’s time to go to sleep.” Mickey took the blanket from her diaper bag and draped it over her head. He took a seat next to her and listened to her laugh from under the lavender blanket. Lina pulled the blanket up from over her head and looked at Mickey. She climbed over the armrest and into Mickeys lap.
“Na na na!” She yelled at him, bouncing in his lap and smacking his face playfully.
“Yes, yes, yes.” Mickey replied back. This ‘argument’ went on for a few minutes, gaining some smiles from a set of younger girls across from them.
“Oh. You think this is funny, huh little girl?” Mickey challenged as he stood the baby up in his lap, her back to his face and started to plant kisses into her chubby little neck. She squealed happily and scrunched up as if it would get her away from her fathers' barrage of kisses. She eventually turned to face her father and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Now that Lina was comfortable in his arms, Mickey slowly started to rock her back and forth in his seat. It didn’t take long for Linas eyes to droop closed. Reaching for her pacifier, Mickey placed it in her mouth and covered her with the blanket. Ian was making his way back over to his husband and daughter.
“What they say?” Mickey asked quietly. He didn’t want to risk waking the now sleeping baby.
“They said they’re waiting for the new plane to arrive at the gate.” Ian replied simply. He rubbed his hand across his face and stretched his arms out before letting out a yawn.
“You look tired, man.” Mickey pointed out to his husband. Ian looked exhausted. He looked stressed and he just looked out of it. Mickey knew that the stress of the flight and the wedding was gonna be a lot on Ian. Mickey knew that Ian was taking his meds, so he wasn’t too concerned. He just didn’t want all this extra stress to trigger any kind of mania or depressive episode.
“Come here.” Mickey motioned Ian to take a seat. Ian said nothing as he went to sit. But rather than sit in the seat next to Mickey, he sat on the floor in between Mickey's legs. Ian leaned his head to the side, so he was laying on Mickey's inner thigh. Mickey started to run his fingers through Ian's hair, massaging his husbands scalp.
“Take a siesta for a few minutes, Fire crotch. Doesn’t look like we’re going anywhere anytime soon.” Ian quickly relaxed his body and was out before Mickey could say another word.
Another whole hour went by before any kind of announcement was made.
“Attention passengers for flight B134 to Orlando.” The woman at the gate started to speak over the PA system. Mickey, as much as he hated to do it, nudged Ian awake. Ian quickly lifted his head and looked around confused, like he thought they had missed their flight.
“Your new aircraft has pulled into the gate, and we will be boarding in the next 10-15 minutes. We apologize again and thank you so much for your patience.” Small applause erupted from the few passengers who stuck around for the new plane to arrive.
“About fucking time. We were supposed to leave what… 4 hours ago?” Mickey asked. Standing and attempting to stretch with his baby in his arms.
“5” Ian responded. His voice muffled since his face was in his hands, rubbing away any signs of sleep.
As soon as Mickey started to move around, Lina awoke and started to cry. He shushed her and tried to bounce her back to sleep. Her eyes remained closed; hands bawled into fists as she wailed into Mickey's neck.
“I know, Lina. We’re all tired, Princess.” He really wanted to calm her back down before they boarded the plane again. He adjusted her and realized why she woke up so upset. Mickey reached for the diaper bag and started for the nearest bathroom when Ian stopped him.
“I’ll change her.” Ian stood up from the floor and took the bag and the baby from Mickey. Mickey didn’t fight it. Ian took the crying baby girl into his arms and kissed her face. Ian's face immediately relaxed as soon as he had his daughter.
Ian returned quickly. Lina was now freshly changed and back asleep in Ian's arms. They arrived just in time too.
“We are now boarding passengers with disabilities, wheelchairs and any passengers with small children who need extra time to board.” Ian said nothing and immediately went to grab their bags. Mickey jumped in and took the small suitcase and backpack from Ian's grasp. The tired red head turned and looked at his husband confused.
“I got em, Ian.” Mickey assured him, also grabbing Linas' diaper bag from him. Mickey juggled all the bags while Ian got them all checked in to board the plane.
Now on the new plane, Mickey got the bags put away and helped Ian and the baby get settled. Mickey handed Ian the blanket for Lina and a neck pillow for Ian. He even helped Ian get his seatbelt on so Ian didn’t have to let go of Lina. With how tired Ian was, he easily could have said this was a dream. But he knew this caring side of Mickey was real. Especially since they became dads, Ian loved that Mickey allowed himself to be more caring and emotional. He would tell you it was all bullshit, but Ian knew the truth. He would normally tease his husband about how doting he was being, but Ian was too exhausted to comment.
The plane, now full of people, once again caused the sleepy baby girl to wake up from her short nap. She had tried and failed to sleep so many times already that the poor thing was at the end of her rope. She started to cry loudly. Her face turning red and tears streaming down her face. Ian cradled her head to his chest and rocked back and forth in the small space he had.
“Shh, shh, shh.” Ian whispered in her ear along with sweet nothings. Mickey reached over and tried to help Ian calm her.
In the row next to them, an older woman stared in instant annoyance because of the infant's cries. Mickey, feeling the gaze of eyes on him turned to face the woman,
“Can I help you?” Mickey asked with that south side attitude he was well known for.
The woman said nothing and just shook her head, clearly, she was not expecting Mickey to say anything to her.
“You’ve never seen tired dads and a crying baby before?” Mickey continued to berate the woman, while still rubbing the crying baby's back.
“Mick.” Ian pleaded. The last thing Ian needed was for Mickey or all of them to get kicked out of the plane for some stupid shit.
The woman held her hand up, indicating that she was not interested in starting a problem. Mickey nodded.
“That’s what I thought. Watch your movie and mind your business.” He shooed her to look away.
The infant's cries eventually died down to dull whimpers as Ian continued to rock her and hum in her ear. Ian looked like he was close to needing a cry himself. Mickey had only ever seen Ian like this one other time. It was when Lina was about 3 weeks old and colicky. They were both exhausted, but Ian took it really hard that he couldn’t soothe her. Mickey found him one night just emotionally drained and sobbing while Lina laid crying in her crib.
“Why don’t you let me take her, Ian?” Mickey offered. He just wanted Ian to get some rest.
“I got her, Mick.” Ian hissed through his teeth. Mickey threw his hands up and started to go through one of the pamphlets in the seat pocket.
Ian sighed and rested his hand on Mickey's knee.
“I’m sorry. I just- I’m a little on edge.” Ian apologized sincerely to his husband.
Mickey laid his hand on top of Ian's and gave it a squeeze.
“Thanks for the heads up, red. Never noticed.” Mickey gave him a smirk and lifted Ian's hand up to his lips and gave it a kiss.
“I just…I feel more at ease holding her. I’ll feel better once we're in the air.” Ian confessed holding Lina a little closer to him.
Mickey nodded understanding Ian's anxiety. He was nervous as shit too, but he didn’t want to add even more stress to his husband. Mickey decided he was gonna keep his mouth shut. If holding their baby made Ian feel more at ease, then Mickey wasn’t gonna take that from him.
“We all will.” Mickey agreed with Ian. The two shared a soft, yet tired, smile at each other.
Soon enough the plane was finally on its way down the runway. Ian and Mickey, both clearly first-time flyers, held each other's hand tight as the plane sped up and they were in the air. Much to their surprise Lina stayed asleep throughout the entire take off.
Once in the air, just as Ian said, he felt much better. Once the seat belt sign was off, Mickey reached over and undid Ian's seatbelt. Ian looked at him in utter confusion. Mickey lifted the armrests up that were between them and then patted his lap.
“I’m fine, Mick. I don’t need–”
“Shut the fuck up and lay down, tough guy.” Mickey lightly pulled at Ian's arm, careful not to disturb Lina.
Ian sighed and laid back onto the seats. Lifting his legs so they were planted on his seat, he set his head in Mickeys lap and adjusted the baby, so she was laying belly down on his chest. Mickey rested a hand on Linas back, making himself feel better. In mere moments, Ian was fast asleep in Mickeys lap. Mickey smiled at his husband and daughter as they both were getting their much-needed rest.
Mickey finally found a movie that caught his interest. He popped in his headphones and tried to enjoy the rest of this very long delayed flight. Sending glances every few minutes to his family, a smile pulled at his lips every time.
The 5-hour delay was definitely a pain in the ass. But getting to watch the 2 loves of his life sleeping peacefully next to him made all that stress and annoyance disappear.