You remember?

Daddy says hi

"Hey, Ian!" someone said bopping into his side. "You gotta take your meds." Ian opened his eyes and saw Lip staring down at him, holding a glass of water in one and his pills in the other hand. Shit. He took the pills and then emptied the glass without saying anything. This stuff tasted like shit and still made him feel dizzy and off sometimes but he knew that he had to take them otherwise he would just end up causing a mess that maybe couldn't be fixed. He didn't want that. One was enough.

Lip was looking at Ian as he wanted to ask him something but wasn't sure if that was a good idea. "What!?" Ian asked for him instead. "I was just wondering if I should call the EMT station and tell them you stay home tomorrow?" Lip said slowly, clearly afraid of Ian's reaction. But he nodded and put his blanket over his head. He just wanted to disappear.

Mandy got there right before one of the prison guards closed the gate behind the visitors who entered the administrative building. She followed the current of people heading down the grey hallways until they got to the waiting area. It was silent here, almost seemed like everybody was too scared of being in a prison – although it was just for a very limited time – to talk any other way than quietly. She sat down in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs waiting until she could see her brother. Ten minutes later her name was called by a bored looking woman in the security uniform of the prison and Mandy got frisked after showing her ID. Then they let her inside the visitors room and she sat down at her usual stool. There were still people entering the room but finally the inmates could come to the other side of the glass to talk to their more or less loved ones.

She saw him before he could see her and her eyes widened in shock. Mickey had several bruises in his face one of them covering almost half of his cheek. His orange overall was tottering around his limbs as he had lost a lot of weight. Now he spotted her so Mandy quickly tried to put on a normal face. As her brother sat down she took the handset off the wall and hold it against her ear. Mickey did the same. "Hey" she said putting on a smile which she knew was weak but she couldn't help it. She was just so shocked that he looked that terrible. "Hey."

"Let me guess, I should see the other one?" Mandy says wanting to lighten up the tension. Mickey laughed sardonically. "Daddy says hi." Mandy froze. She felt goosebumps spreading all over her skin as she realized what he just said. She looked at her brother. At his hand clenching the handset so the letters on his knuckles really stood out: FUCK. Besides the tattoos which Mandy knew, there now were cuts on Mickey's skin, starting on his hands reaching all the way up to his elbows before disappearing under the fabric of his overall. Shit.

"So how are you?" he asked and so interrupted her thoughts. "Uhm..." she said, wanting to be honest with him. "I don't know actually. It's not like that I love my job but it's okay I guess. Decent pay."

Mickey just nodded and Mandy looked right into his eyes. They both had blue eyes and his were a little bit lighter. But the shine had faded and left his eyes all caliginous and dark. She felt like she wasn't able to breathe properly but forced herself to calm down. Freaking out wouldn't help at all so she thought she just had to try to cheer him up. At least a tiny bit. "Just in case you were wondering, Iggy is back at home" she said and Mickey responded: "Is he alright?". Mandy nodded, well aware of all the unspoken issues running around in her head. "What about Yev?" Mickey asked and this time Mandy smiled her real smile. "He's doing great. The twins and him get along really well although he sometimes can be a pain in the ass." "Just a real Milkovich" and Mandy was relieved seeing a smirk on his face. "Yeah. I babysat him yesterday when Kev, V and Lana went to..." She stopped.

Mickey's smirk disappeared.

"You didn't look after Gemma and Amy?" he said after a short moment of silence. "No. They both start screaming for no reason every two hours and only Kev can calm them down but they thought two babies are less annoying than three so they dropped Yev off." Mickey's eyes just lightened up a little bit as she talked about his son and she knew how much he missed him. "Well... how about you? Can I get you anything like... I don't know..." she said. She just wanted to do everything possible to make him feel a little better. She just didn't know how. Mickey looked at her, staying silent and then he shook his head. Mandy's heart sunk.

The nasty sound of the alarm announced that they had only three minutes left, but she didn't know what to say. She was still too shocked about his appearance and hated the fact that she couldn't do anything to help him. "Okay thanks for coming, though" Mickey mumbled but Mandy knew he meant it. She wanted to hug him so bad but the cold glass was in the way so she just tried her best to smile at him. "Of course. I'll be here next week."

And then she had to leave. Leave her brother behind in prison. Leave him to the cruel hands of their dad and while she went outside she couldn't think of anything else but the idea that maybe this was the last time she saw him. Alive.