Chapter Text
“Pick up the pace!” Ian called out to the stragglers at the back of the pack. “Nobody gets breakfast until everyone finishes!”
“Don’t you think you’re being a little too hard on them?” Debbie said from her spot beside him. “Most of them came here for a fun summer camp experience. You know, swimming, crafting, campfires?”
“They’ll get all that too, Debs,” he replied absently. “But staying in shape is important, and so is routine and discipline. They’ll thank us for it someday.” Walking away from his little sister, he blew the whistle that always hung around his neck, signaling to the first group of teenagers making their way around the makeshift running track that they were done.
“Hit the showers!” he instructed them as he got closer. “Breakfast starts in 20 minutes if the rest of these slugs can finish in time.”
Grumbling, they walked away, but their pace quickened as they remembered that first showers always meant actual hot showers, which wasn’t guaranteed for the kids still lumbering their way around the track.
Liam was in the next group to finish, but he was stumbling, sweaty, and clearly exhausted when he stopped before his brother. “Do we really have to do this every morning?” he groaned. “Can’t I just sprint to the Mess Hall for my meals?”
Ian reached over and ruffled Liam’s sweaty curls. “Sorry little brother, no can do. No special treatment, even for family! Go get your shower. Franny is going to be looking for her favorite uncle soon.”
With a groan and a shake of his head, Liam walked away, using all the tricks that Ian had taught him before the start of camp to cool down properly and keep his muscles from stiffening up. He was even more of a beanpole than Ian had been at his age, which gave Ian some hope that at least one of his brothers might eventually reach his height.
This was the second week of summer camp, the second week of kids and teens staying at Ian’s newly opened campground.
Not in a million years would he have foreseen this future for himself. Ian Gallagher, summer camp owner. And it was all thanks to Grammy Gallagher.
He had been surprised last summer when someone dug up an old will that belonged to their grandmother, and they found out that she owned this land and the camp facilities on it. All of Frank’s kids were left something, but Ian had gotten what seemed at the time like the biggest gift. According to Grammy’s will, it was because Ian had the misfortune of jointly belonging to two of her useless sons.
Waiting on the stragglers, Ian allowed himself to remember his surprise and confusion, and then disappointment when he and Lip had driven up to visit the place and realized how run-down it was, clearly not having been used as an actual summer camp in years. Everything had made a bit more sense when they found the remnants of a meth lab in the kitchen. Of course, Grammy would leave him a decrepit meth lab.
Ian had been drifting, largely directionless in life ever since his failed Army stint and subsequent Bipolar diagnosis. He had moved from one dead-end job to another, nothing ever reigniting the spark of passion that his military dreams had carried. He thought briefly about becoming a firefighter, or a cop, but a quick read-through of the requirements had put an end to that idea when he saw that neither role accepted people with diagnosed mental illness.
The initial disappointment over the state of Grammy’s camp slowly turned to hope and cautious excitement, though, as he realized that he could still help people, if just in a different way than he had always dreamed. Most of the family had rolled their eyes and wished him good luck, but Debbie and Liam had been there for him every step of the way in trying to build this new dream.
They had spent two weeks the previous summer roughing it in one of the bunkhouses while they started the process of cleaning and repairing some of the worst damage. Notably disassembling the meth lab, which Ian had insisted that the others not go near until he was sure the area was safe. At the end of those two weeks, they were sweaty and exhausted, but proud of the work they had done. Ian had promised Debbie a job, and Liam unlimited free access as a camper until he was old enough to work there as well. He knew they could make this work.
He snapped back to the present when the last of the campers, a slightly chubby kid named Derek, collapsed at his feet, red-faced and panting. Crouching down by his side, Ian handed him a bottle of water and clapped him on the shoulder. “Great job, Derek!” he encouraged. “That was an entire minute faster than last week!”
Derek’s only response was a thumbs up as he chugged the water.
Chuckling, Ian rose back to his feet and told all of the stragglers to get themselves off to the showers because they stank.
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Later that day, Ian was doing a tour of the camp, checking in on all of the activities. He watched for a while as the youngest group, the 10 to 12-year-olds, were taking their turn in the swimming area, many of them learning how to swim for the first time at this camp. Liam waved to him from the dock right before taking a giant leap into the water, and he couldn’t help but smile seeing his brother act like a real kid for a change.
He turned to head back to the main area where the two older age groups were spending their afternoon, one group doing an art project with Counselor Nosho, while the others learned basic archery skills with their Counselor Michelle. He was still there when Debbie found him again, Franny riding on her shoulders. “Hey Ian, did that package arrive with the leather-working tools we were waiting for? FedEx was supposed to drop it off yesterday.”
Scrunching his face up in thought, he reached over to pluck Franny from her mom and transfer her to his own shoulders, making the little girl squeal with delight at the higher vantage point. “I don’t think so Debs, but come with me to my office, and we’ll check. Maybe someone else signed for it and forgot to tell me.”
After a quick check showed no signs of the package, Ian booted up the laptop on his desk to check on the status of the package Debbie had been waiting all week for. He groaned in realization when the package was marked as ‘Delivered’ with a picture attached as proof.
Unfortunately, the camp shown in the picture wasn’t theirs, but the other summer camp they shared the lake with.
Ian had done some research last year when he realized there was another, obviously active camp on the lake. He had been hoping to find some contact information for the Camp Manager, maybe get some suggestions, or at least make sure they were on friendly terms to start the summer.
He hadn’t been thrilled to read that the camp was, according to their website, a ‘Juvenile Delinquent Reclamation Project’ facility, that mostly accepted kids fresh out of juvie. He knew plenty of the kids he had gone to school with had spent time there, and in fact, Carl was in there right now, serving his second sentence for dealing drugs. But it was risky with the type of camp he was setting up to have a bunch of potentially violent offenders just on the other side of the lake.
Nevertheless, he had tried everything to reach out, leaving messages, sending emails, and even having a physical letter delivered to the other camp explaining that he was planning to re-open his grandmother’s old campground and hoping they could be in touch. None of his messages had received a response, leaving him with no choice but to believe that the Camp Manager was a bit of a dick, and better left alone.
Sighing, he told Debs that he would head over there now and see if he could retrieve the missing package. He glanced at the keys hanging on the wall of his office before deciding that it was a nice day, and the package wasn’t that big, so he really should set an example and walk the two miles to the other camp.
As he walked, his thoughts wandered again to everything that had led to the formal re-opening of his camp.
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Remembering how excited Carl had been the one year that Frank had scammed him into a sleep-away camp, Ian couldn’t help but think about how much of a difference it could make to the kids of neighborhoods like his if there was a summer camp that they could attend without it costing their parents an arm and a leg. Could he find a way to get the kids of the South Side cheap or even free access to his camp? And what about the LQTBQ+ kids who needed a safe place to go, to get away from the fear and harassment that so many of them faced every day?
In one of their many brainstorming sessions, Liam had excitedly suggested that they go talk to the people at an LQBTQ+ shelter that he had heard about from kids at school. He thought that if anyone would know the best ways to help the kids, it had to be them. Shrugging, Ian had agreed that it certainly couldn’t hurt to talk to them and explain his plan.
The following day, he and Debbie had headed over and met with Trevor, who seemed to be in charge of the shelter. To Ian’s surprise, Liam had been right. Not only was Trevor excited at the idea of a summer camp, but he was also willing to help out some of the kids who came through his shelter every day and provide Ian with lists of organizations and people who might be willing to donate money to help him realize his vision.
After spending hours poring over their options, he and Debbie had picked three organizations to approach. One had turned them away, saying they had already promised all of their funds for the year to other charities, but the other two had been receptive, and in the end, both had donated money to them, with the stipulation that a portion of the money had to be used to fund camp stays for at-risk LQBTQ+ kids from all parts of Chicago.
That was the point when Lip, at least, had started to come around to the idea, believing that maybe Ian really could make this thing work. He wasn’t interested in doing any of the physical labor but had volunteered to help them set up the network and wifi that Ian wanted to have in the Admin areas of the camp. In the end, he also helped set up some solar panels and generators to give them basic power in case of an emergency, and promised to act as their IT support for free.
Once he had secured funding for the LGBTQ+ portion of his camp, Ian felt more confident, and with the help of Debbie and Liam, he was able to come up with additional funding to help support some of the kids from the poor parts of the city. They would still need at least half of their campers to be paying customers for the first few years, but they had hopes of eventually becoming a fully charitable organization.
The donated money had allowed him to hire the help he needed to finish cleaning up and repairing the campground, buy some basic supplies, and hire a skeleton staff to be ready for the camping season to open. Liam helped by running their social media accounts, and his campaign had been so successful that the paid slots were all filled two months before the start of camp. Everything had been in place and ready to go when Ian, Debbie, and Franny arrived two weeks before opening day. Now they just had to get through this first summer.
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Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Ian looked up at the archway above the entrance to the other camp. Camp Juvenile Rehabilitation Chicago, it read, looking a bit weathered and battered. He took a deep breath and headed in, hoping to find someone quickly who could direct him to the Camp Manager’s office.
He wandered around for a few minutes before stopping dead in his tracks at the sight of a familiar figure standing by what looked to be an obstacle course. “Carl?” he said quietly as he approached. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, hey bro,” Carl said casually, seemingly completely unsurprised to see Ian standing there. “Got offered a spot in this program. Said if I came to this camp for the summer, that would count as finishing my sentence and I can go home at the end. Pretty sweet, right? Out in six months instead of a year, and all I have to do is spend a couple of months out here.”
“Yeah, I mean… sweet deal, but why didn’t you tell us?” Ian asked. “My camp is right on the other side of the lake, maybe we could have worked something out, have you come to my place instead.”
“No offense bro, but your camp sounds pretty lame. This place is badass. Guy who runs it used to be a dealer, spent time inside, all of that. I’m good here.” Carl replied. Shrugging, Ian promised himself that he would at least find ways to get Carl released for a day once in a while to come visit them or to make sure that they came to see him when they could. They all missed their slightly psychopathic brother. “Ok, well good to know you’re here at least. I’ll let the others know. Any chance you can show me where to find the Admin building around here?”
Carl broke into a smile, apparently pleased that Ian wasn’t going to fight him on his choice. “Yeah, man, this way.” He slugged Ian in the arm and led him off down a slightly hidden side path. They walked for a few minutes, Ian catching Carl up on the latest developments at home, until Carl stopped and pointed at a small building off to the left. “That’s the place you want. Tell Debs and Liam I said hey. It was good to see you, bro.”
Ian turned and caught Carl in a bearhug, lifting him off the ground before he could escape back up the trail. “Glad you’re here instead of in juvie. We’ll see you again over the summer, but take care of yourself, ok? Everyone will be happy to have you home.” He set his little brother down and smiled as he watched him walk away.
Turning to face the building Carl had pointed out, he took a deep breath and strode toward it in a way that he hoped looked confident. He knocked loudly on the door, waiting until he heard a muffled voice mumbling for him to come in. Opening the door, the first thing he noticed was that the space was horribly cluttered. The desk was completely covered with papers, drink cups, and candy wrappers. The garbage can was overflowing, and there was a lingering hint of tobacco smoke in the air, despite the no smoking sign prominently on display.
“What?” came a grumpy voice from behind the desk, its owner not looking up from the paperwork he was filling out.
“Hey,” Ian said calmly. “I think you might have a package here that belongs to me.”
The man behind the desk sighed, and put down his pen, rubbing a finger across his eyebrow before looking up.
As soon as he did, Ian caught his breath in shock. There was no way.
“Holy shit. Mickey?!” Ian couldn’t help but exclaim. “You run this place?”
Brow wrinkling in thought, the man’s eyes raked over Ian, before he shook his head. “Do I know you?”
Ian stiffened, eyes going hard. “No, no, of course not. Forget it. I own the camp on the other side of the lake. FedEx left a package here yesterday that belongs to me. Just came to collect it.”
“Ok….” he said slowly. “There’s a pile of boxes over in the corner there that got dropped off. Why don’t you see if yours is in there?” He quickly went back to the paperwork he was filling out, seemingly forgetting Ian’s presence entirely.
After staring at him for a minute in pure disbelief, Ian turned and stalked over to the indicated pile of boxes, luckily finding his sitting right on top. “Guess I’ll just take this and go then,” he snarled, fighting the temptation to snatch up one of the other boxes as well.
“Uh-huh,” was the mumbled response from the man on the other side of the desk.
Shaking his head in disbelief, old memories flooding into his brain, Ian turned and left the office, slowly making his way back to his own camp to deliver the package to Debs. At least someone was going to be happy with the result of his ill-advised little trip.