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Tami is in the kitchen feeding Fred. Or trying to at least. Whatever she puts in his mouth just falls back out.
“Come one kid,” Tami pleads. “Just swallow one bite.”
Tami is tired. She had just gotten out of the hospital recovering from a very traumatic birth and is trying to prove to Lip that she can be a good mom. The asshole thinks he’s the perfect parent but she’s Fred’s mom and she should be able to feed him goddamnit.
Just then the back door opens with a sudden burst and a dark haired man quickly enters. Tami notices the tattoos on his knuckles and forearm and quickly picks up Fred.
“Yo, is Gallagher around?” The intruder asks, raising his eyebrows.
“Lip?” Tammi calls out, her voice wavering.
“No, not that one,” the stranger says with obvious frustration.
Lip comes down the stairs and enters the kitchen.
“Hey Mickey,” Lip greets.
“Where’s your brother, I thought you were going to pick him up today,” Mickey questions Lip in a way that Tami feels like is an interrogation. She doesn’t know why Ian was locked up. She knows it has something to do about setting a car on fire but she has a feeling this guy has something to do with it.
“Calm down,” Lip says, unfazed by the other man’s behavior. “He went to meet with his PO. You should know how getting out of prison goes.”
“Fuck you. Tell Ian I’m looking for him OK,” Mickey says as he leaves the Gallagher house.
“Yeah, nice talking to you Mickey,” Lip calls out to him as the back door slams shut.
“Who the fuck was that?” Tami asks as she holds Fred close to her chest.
“Just Mickey,” Lip says as if he wasn’t some violent thug threatening his younger brother.
“Should we warn you brother? Or like the police?”
“What?” Lip says with confusion. “No, Mickey just wants to blow Ian, it's fine.”
Blow? Tami thinks, like shoot? Is this man going to shoot Lip’s brother? Why does Lip seem fine with that? Maybe Ian is more dangerous than she thought.
Tami is sitting on the couch flipping through the TV. Fred finally settled down for a nap and Tami was trying to relax by finding something trashy on TV to distract her mind.
The front door opens and a bunch of balloons come flying in.
“Shit!” a blonde haired woman cusses as she enters carrying multiple bags of party supplies. Behind this new woman is the same dark haired thug from earlier in the day carrying a giant cake.
The man notices Tami and nods his head towards her. “Ian come back yet?”
“Um,” Tami doesn’t know what she should tell this man. She doesn’t want to be an accomplice in murder but she also doesn’t want to be a victim of it either.
Debbie comes down the stairs with Franny, her face lights up when she sees Mickey and the young woman.
“Hey Mickey, hey Mandy” Debbie greets. “You got all the stuff!”
“Yeah, we didn’t know where you wanted us to store all this so we came over here,” Mandy answers. Debbie gathers the stray balloons and hands one to her daughter.
“Kev and V said we could start setting up, we can put all this in my truck and head over,” Debbie instructs.
“Where’s Ian?” Mickey asks. His mind clearly is only focused on one thing.
“Yeah,” Mandy agrees. “I tried calling him multiple times but he hasn’t answered.”
“Oh his phone died since he’s been gone. It’s upstairs charging, he’s at his job interview but I told him to come to The Alibi right as soon as it’s done.”
Debbie leads Mickey and Mandy out the house. “What’s the interview for?” Tami can hear Mandy ask as the front door shuts. Hopefully Debbie doesn’t tell the potential murderer where Ian’s location is.
Tami goes to The Alibi Room with Lip and his family. The bar is filled with the balloons and decorations that Mickey and Mandy bought. Tami notices a giant banner welcoming Ian home hanging from the ceiling and the giant cake with a truck on fire on a table in the center of the bar.
Debbie has activities set up for the kids, Tami recognizes Franny and the twins that are Kev and V’s daughters but there’s also a little boy too that she doesn’t know. Fred is at her sister's; she didn’t want to bring him to a southside dive bar even if Lip said it was fine. Tami takes a seat at the bar and orders a glass of wine from Kev.
After a few minutes Ian enters the bar and everyone erputes into cheers. Ian looks surprised and Tami couldn’t help but feel all the love in the room. Whatever Ian did to get him locked up in prison couldn’t have been that bad if he still had so many people that love him. The little boy gets up from the kids table and runs to Ian and the red haired man picks him up and embraces him.
After making the rounds, Ian collapses on the bar stool next to her. Tami is about to introduce herself but was interrupted by a Russian woman placing a beer in front of Ian before she could open her mouth.
“Shithead husband is looking for you,” the woman states.
“I know, I think we keep missing each other,” Ian says. “Shouldn’t he be here?”
“He was impatient idiot,” the woman shrugs. “Wants to find you right away.”
“I’m sorry,” Tami interjects. “Is your husband the scary guy that keeps looking for Ian?”
“Scary?” The woman scoffs. “He’s idiot.”
“Who are you?” Ian asks.
“Oh, I’m Tami-”
“Oh, you’re Lip’s girl!” Ian says with excitement. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Tami and Ian make small talk. Tami finds that Ian is easy to talk to. Apparently he used to he an EMT and his PO set him up with the same job. Tami wants to hear all the crazy stories Ian must have being an EMT. Like what’s the strangest item found in a guy’s ass?
“So what did you do to this Mickey guy that he’s now on the hunt for you?” Tami asks as she takes another sip of her wine. She’s drunk and willing to hear the dangerous gossip.
“Carrot boy just fuck husband in ass,” the Russian woman responds. Ian rolls his eyes but laughs.
Fuck in ass? Tami contemplates. Does she mean Ian fucked Mickey over? Like betrayed him? Does it have to do with Ian going to prison? Was it his truck that Ian set on fire?
Then right on cue the thug enters the bar.
“Hey shithead!” Mickey shouts. “Where the fuck have you been?”
“Mickey,” Ian says, Tami can feel the air leaving his body. She stays seated. Like Ian, too scared to move.
Mickey grabs the side of Ian’s face and Tami has visions of seeing Mickey banging Ian’s head against the bar. Tami was not prepared for what actually happened, which was Mickey shoving his tongue into Ian’s mouth and Ian melting into him.
Tami slinks away from the bar as the couple continues to make out. She makes her way to Lip and crosses her arms across her chest.
“You could have told me that tiny thug was Ian’s boyfriend.”
“Didn’t I?”
“No, I’ve been scared out of my mind because I thought he was going to kill your brother!”
“Oh, yeah they’ve been together since they were teenagers,” Lip shrugs.
Tami pauses and then it hits her.
“Wait didn’t the Russian woman say they were married?”
“Svetlana? Yeah, she’s Mickey’s wife, the blonde kid is their son.” Lips says pointing to the young boy that greeted Ian when he arrived.
Tami threw her hands up. She was fed up with everything that had happened today and how she always feels like she is spoon fed information.
“That’s not normal Lip!”
“No it not,” Lip agrees, taking a sip of his coke. “It’s Gallagher.”