I don't own Shameless.

Just Don't Let Me Down: Chapter 1

Mickey grinned as he slapped Ian's as the pale boy pulled his shirt back over his head. Ian rolled his eyes as he dropped back down onto the bench in the dugout.

"You know, it still surprises me how great that is, Fire Crotch." Mickey whispered, throwing his arm around Ian's shoulders. It was only in the dark in an abandoned little league field that Mickey felt comfortable being this open with Ian. And although Ian hated not being able to talk to Mickey in public, he'd take every ounce of affection he'd give him otherwise.

"I'll take that as a compliment," the younger boy mumbled back, burrowing his head in Mickey's shoulder. The two sat in silence for a while before Mickey climbed to his feet with a groan.

"Ready to head back, E?" He asked, holding out his hand to help Ian to his feet.

"Nah," Ian said, cracking his neck. "I think I'm going to go for a run."

"At one in the morning?" Mickey asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"It's cooler running now than in the morning," Ian said with a shrug as he climbed to his feet. "I'll see you when I get off work, Mick," he whispered as he kissed the older boy. Mickey moaned, a hand full of Ian's hair in his fist. He didn't care how gay this was, he liked.

"Be careful," he said with a grunt as he pulled away, keeping his eyes on Ian as he left. Ian grinned and shook his head as he started to stretch out.

Ian's spine cracked as he bent to tie his shoe, his focus trained on the double not. He stiffened when he heard footsteps, still not looking up.

"What, you ready for round two?" He asked as he turned around. However, it wasn't Mickey who stood behind him. Suddenly Ian wished he had kept the ex-con around. The Conkle twins were both Mickey's age but far more tough. The twins toward over Ian; their muscles were twice his size. Ian's blood ran cold when he saw that each boy held a bat.

"Uh, Alex," He stuttered. "Brett." Brett grunted in return as Alex stepped forward. Ian cursed silently when he realized they had cornered him; the only way out of the dugout was where they stood.

"I heard a funny thing about you Gallagher," Alex said, repeatedly bouncing the bat off his open palm.

"Uh, yeah?" Ian said, letting out a shuttering breath as his back ran into the cold stone wall. God how he wished Mickey would just come back even though he knew he wouldn't.

"Yeah, seems you're a cock sucker, Gallagher." Alex said, stepping forward, Brett following close behind.

"Who-Who told you that?" Ian asked, trying to sound strong and confident. Sadly, he failed. He'd always been a bad liar.

"It don't matter who told us," Brett finally said, moving so he was right next to his brother. "All that matter is we know, and we don't like it. So you know what we're going to do, Gallagher?" Ian gulped but shook his head, looking for a path to escape in vain.

"Well, we're going to beat it out of you," Alex said, his voice and face equally calm. Ian stared with wide-eyes at the older boy, wondering how he could be so calm. While he was distracted with one twin, however, Brett stepped forward and swung the bat.

At the time when Carl had broken that kid's knee who was holding Lip out the window with the baseball bat, it had been funny. But now, as Ian screamed out in pain and crumpled to the ground, he realized how unfunny it really was. Alex stepped forward and brought his bat down on Ian's other leg, ignoring his broken sobs. Ian tried to curl in on himself to protect his face but I felt like he couldn't move. He tried to close his eyes and pretend this wasn't happening but he was in so much pain. The bats kept repeatedly coming down, the sounds of breaking bones reigning through the air each time.

Soon the twins got bored with the bats and moved on to their boots, kicking Ian again and again. He whimpered as he felt his ribs break, his breathing becoming more shallow. His neck and back were throbbing in pain and that worried him more than anything. Finally the two boy's got bored and Brett started digging in his pockets.

"He's not going to have much," Alex said, lighting a cigarette. "Fi had those kids on a tight leash."

"Yeah, but he's got this," Brett held up the cell phone Lip had thrown at him as he left that night. 'Don't want you running the streets at night without a way to call home.' He had said and Ian had rolled his eyes. But now his only means of calling for help was in risk.

"You don't say," Alex said with a smirk. "Don't want to leave this in the wrong hands." And with that he threw the phone to the ground, smashing it to pieces. "See you later, fag," he said, grinding his foot into Ian's hand as he left.

Ian whimpered again, the pain causing his vision to blur. He was afraid to move in case they had hurt his back but he knew he couldn't stay here. He tried to drag himself forward on his arm but the pain was too much. Just before he blacked out he prayed to a God he wasn't sure he believed in that someone, anyone, would find him.

Lip cursed as he slid down the stairs, his eyes adjusting to the darkness as the pounding continued at the door.

"I'm coming!" He called, rubbing at his eyes, pausing momentarily at the bat wondering if he should take is with him. Finally he swung the door open, surprised to see Tony standing there.

"Is Fiona home?" He asked, biting his lip as he glanced back at the road.

"Uh, yeah, hold on let me go get her." Lip cocked an eyebrow at the cop. He groaned as he climbed the stairs, knocking at quietly at Fiona's door. "Fi? Fi, it's Tony. I think some things wrong."

Fiona swung her door open, her brown hair wild. She pulled on a jacket over her tank top and stared at Lip with wide eyes.

"What's wrong?" She asked, pulling her hair up.

"I don't know, Tony just asked for you." She sighed and headed down the stairs.

"Tony, what's wrong? Is it Frank?" Tony bit his lip and shook his head.

"You two should probably sit down."

"Just tell me Tony," Fiona growled, straightening her posture. Tony sighed, pausing as he looked around

"It's Ian," he said quietly and Lip's head shot up.

"What about Ian?" He asked, his mind running through a million possibilities. He knew his brother had met with Mickey that night but Mickey would never let anything happen to him.

"Doc. Miller went to the Little League fields to work out about an hour ago. He always runs down there in the middle of the night, says it's safe. Anyway, he found Ian in the dugouts. Someone beat him pretty bad, Fiona. Looks like a bat."

"Oh God," Fiona whimpered as she sunk low on the couch. "Is he…is he okay?"

"They took him to General, but they need someone to sign the papers before they can take him into surgery. I didn't know where to find Frank but I figured you'd know."

"Yeah, yeah, just give me a minute," Fiona said, climbing to her feet and looking around for clothes.

"I want to go with you," Lip said, his voice shaking.

"No!" Fiona yelled back, before lowering her voice. "Now, I need you to stay here with the kids. We aren't going to be able to see him for quite some time so there's no point in dragging you all down to General now. So you stay here with Deb's and Carl and Liam and I will call you in the morning when it's okay to come down, okay? Can we go, Tony?"

Lip stared, his heart breaking as his sister sped down the street.

Mickey paced back and forth, occasionally looking up at the clock that hung above the television. Ian was supposed to be off work an hour ago and it only took 15 minutes to get to Mickey's from the store. He sucked hard on his cigarette, letting out a shaky breath as he looked at the clock again. Finally a knock came and he practically ran to the door.

"Running a bit late there, Fire Crotch," he called as he opened the door, stopping short when he realized it was Lip and not Ian on the other side of the door. "Lip?"

"Dude, I need to talk to you." Mickey furrowed his brow but stepped back, nodding towards his bedroom.

"What do you want, Gallagher?" He growled, looking at the clock next to his bed.

"You can drop the act, Mick, I know about you and Ian." Mickey bit his lip and nodded.

"Then what do you want. And where's E?"

"That's what I need to talk to you about. What time did you leave him last night?" Mickey frowned, thinking hard.

"I don't know, around one?" He said, searching Lip's face for answers.

"Then I guess it happened right after you left." Lip said, putting his head in his hands.

"What happened?" Mickey said, his voice cracking.

"Someone jumped him. With bats. Beat the shit out of him." Mickey's blood ran cold, his eyes wide.

"Where is he?" he asked, afraid to move.

"General. He's been in surgery for a couple hours now. Fi called about an hour ago, I guess there was some complications. That's why it's taking so long. She said they weren't sure about all his injuries yet, but it's bad. Really bad, Mickey."

Mickey sank onto the chair at his desk, his heart jumping into his throat. His ginger, his boy was laying hurt in some hospital and it's been over 12 hours and he had had no idea anything was wrong.

"I know you're still weird about this stuff," Lip said quietly. "So I wouldn't come around during the day any cause Fiona probably won't leave until the make her. I think visiting hours are over at 5 but knowing you, you could probably sneak in without a problem."

"Shit I'm going to be sick," Mickey mumbled as he launched himself to his feet and into the bathroom. There wasn't much in his stomach and his throat screamed in protest as he hurled.

"Dude, you got to calm down," Lip said, glancing into the hallway in case anyone heard.

"Calm down?" Mickey exclaimed, his voice cracking. "They beat the shit out of him 'cause he's gay, Lip. You can't convince me otherwise. What, me next?"

"No one knows you're gay," Lip whispered. "Just me and Ian. Now pull yourself together because he's going to need you. I've got to get back to the house; Deb's is watching Carl and Liam. I'll call you once he gets out of surgery and let you know what' going on. Just keep yourself together."

Mickey let out a shaky breath and nodded, following Lip to the door.

"I'm assuming you'll pass the word on to Mandy?" Lip asked and Mickey nodded. "It'll be okay, dude. He's a strong kid, he'll fight for this." Mickey nodded again as he shut the door behind Lip. It was going to be a long day at the Milkovich house.

AN: I hope you liked it. Please review.