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It started with a cough. A round of sickness that was bound to catch everyone in the Gallagher household. It was also only a cough. Ian was the first to catch it, like he normally was. Lip always wondered if something like that was genetic. Ian was practically heaving for days before Fiona finally convinced him to go to the clinic.
Which, of course, did practically nothing. They’d gotten lucky that somebody had donated a shit ton of unused inhalers, and they managed to snag one for Ian. It hadn’t helped much so far, but it was better than nothing.
The cough was loud as hell, which made sleeping in the same room as Ian a bitch. Plus, the cough had finally started spreading, starting with Lip. It got caught in his throat a lot, and whenever he tried to keep it quiet… well, the cough didn’t like that.
Ian had managed to fall asleep, which solved only half of Lip’s current issues. There was noise from the hallway as Debbie walked to the bathroom. He stared up at the ceiling, occasionally drifting his eyes over the posters that covered the room. Suddenly, he heard mumbling from Ian’s bed. It wasn’t unusual for the kid to sleep talk, so Lip just grinned to himself and focused on memorizing it so he could tease Ian in the morning.
“Do you wanna be a teen again?” Ian mumbled. Lip made a face to himself. “Whoever’s kicking… do you wanna be kicker?” He snorted. Then, Ian started twisting and turning. Lip frowned, looking over the edge of his bed after hearing the noise. Then he heard what sounded like gagging as Ian sat up.
“Oh shit,” he muttered. “Debbie, get off the toilet! Ian’s gonna hurl!” He called out. He heard Debbie squeal, followed by her probably jumping off the toilet. Lip made his way down his ladder to make sure everything was good. He didn’t want to have to wake Fiona.
As he got down though, he could see Ian shaking his head. Lip frowned and went to turn on the light. Now that he was closer, it didn’t sound like gagging anymore. The light turned on and immediately Lip could see the problem. Ian’s lips were white.
“Shit,” he cursed. “Debbie, go get Fiona!” He yelled. He took a quick step towards Ian, grabbing him by the shoulders. “Hey, hey can you breathe?” Ian responded with a short gasp. His hands were up at his throat, grasping at the base of his neck. The short gasps continued, followed every now and then by an attempt at a cough. “C’mon, lets get you out in the hallway,” he guided Ian out of the room, vaguely seeing Carl trail behind them.
Fiona ran up to them and froze when she saw Ian. “Holy shit.” Her eyes widened. “Holy shit, uh, okay. Um, where’s the inhaler?” Lip let go of Ian to check their room where the inhaler normally was. He checked Ian’s bedside table, the desk, Carl’s bed, but it wasn’t anywhere.
“Shit, I can’t find it!” He could hear Carl and Debbie rushing downstairs. Lip’s throat itched with a cough. He ran back out to the hallway as he remembered something. “Fi, you gave it to me after school right? ‘Cause I was coughing too much?” Fiona was holding Ian’s head in her hands, soothing him. “Fiona.”
“Huh?” She turned to him. Then she nodded after a blink. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, check my purse? Downstairs.”
Lip nodded. Then he yelled out so the little kids could hear him, “Fiona’s purse!” He heard their loud footsteps until they got to the linoleum of the kitchen. He stared at Ian, stuck between listening to his choked gasps and his own racing heartbeat.
“I got it!” Debbie screeched. He heard her start up the stairs and moved to meet her at the top. He got there just in time to watch her trip, but she recovered before falling and handed the inhaler to Lip. He gave a sigh of relief and took it from her.
He shook it up on the way to Ian and Fiona, already having wasted too much time getting the damn thing to Ian. He cursed as the canister fell out, fumbling to put it back in place. His hands were shaking. He finally managed to hand it to Fiona, who held it up to Ian’s mouth.
“C’mon, take a breath for me,” she coaxed him. He put his hand over hers as they pushed down on the depressor. As soon as Ian tried to breathe, it turned into a hacking fit. Lip turned around to see that Debbie and Carl both made it back up the stairs. He put an arm around each of them. They all held their breath as Fiona tried to get Ian to breathe. Ironic.
Finally, he was able to take a deep enough breath that the medicine didn’t get shot back out right away. Lip felt Debbie and Carl both relax under his arms, and he gave his own sigh of relief. Ian took a shuddering breath, gripping tightly to Fiona as he did.
“Hey, hey, you’re okay,” Fiona told him. “Everything’s okay now.” The end of her sentence tilted upwards as she finally broke out into her stressed-as-shit laugh. “Everything’s okay,” She locked eyes with Lip, who couldn’t help a smile as the adrenaline finished coursing through his body.
“Jesus Christ,” Lip said on an exhale. “Jesus Christ.” His voice shook with his own stressed laugh. He felt Debbie and Carl give each other looks behind him, not surprised but still not understanding the need to laugh under pressure.
Ian scoffed over a cough. “Yeah, let’s see how you feel after you almost die.” But he had his own smile on, because that was what they knew.
Fiona pocketed the inhaler and ran her hands over Ian’s face. “You’re all good now?”
Ian coughed again. “Kinda. Almost just choked on nothing, so lets not get our hopes up,” And there was his laugh. He triggered Fiona’s laugh again, and Lip watched the two of them shake with laughter, holding each other close while he kept it together for Debbie and Carl. He’d get his moment with them in a minute.
Fiona took a deep breath. “Okay, normally I think you’d go to the ER after somethin’ like this.”
Lip scoffed. “Yeah, right.”
“Hey, I’m just saying.” She held her hands up. “We obviously won’t be doin’ that.”
“What about V?” Ian asked. He opened his mouth to continue but was cut off by a loud cough. “She helped bef-ore- before clinic.”
“She’s too busy banging Kev,” Fiona rolled her eyes. “I promised I’d give her the night.”
“Even for this?” Lip raised his eyebrow. “You sure?”
“I’ll be fine,” Ian said. Then he started coughing again. Lip and Fiona gave each other a look before coming to a consensus.
Lip clapped his hands. “Everyone downstairs for a big ol’ sleepover?” Debbie and Carl both nodded their heads excitedly. “Okay, go grab blankets.” He pushed them forwards to the bedrooms. Once they were gone, he finally allowed himself to pull Ian into a hug. “Should’ve told me you were choking,” he mumbled.
Ian laughed. “The whole point of choking is that I kinda can’t.” Lip’s scoff that he let out quickly turned into a shaky laugh, which then turned into a coughing fit.
“Asshole.” He coughed. He had to force himself to stop coughing in order to take a breath. They both shared a look with Fiona.
“Okay, V first thing in the morning.” She declared. “Both of you. If this is the natural progression of whatever the hell this is…” she let out a bitter laugh. “We’re kinda fucked.”
Ian nodded. “And uh, we shouldn’t get near Liam for a while.”
“You think?” Lip scoffed. They all turned to the stairs as Debbie screeched out Carl’s name. He sighed. “I think we’re all gonna be sleeping downstairs for a while.”
Fiona hummed. “Might as well.” She straightened up. “Okay, you two go make sure they don’t kill each other and I’ll go grab Liam?” They both nodded, and she pulled them into a hug. Lip tried to make sure she didn’t squeeze all the air out of him. She let go and they slowly made their way downstairs, Ian in front of Lip.
“Ian gets the couch!” Debbie was yelling as they reached the living room. “He almost died!”
“Yeah, but we should get the couch for having to witness it!” Carl argued. Lip turned to Ian, silently asking what his opinion was. Ian tilted his head and raised an eyebrow at him. Go figure.
Ian moved from behind the couch, falling forward onto the cushions. “Why thank you, for this lovely seating arrangement.” He grinned slyly. Debbie stuck her chin up proudly while Carl pouted. “How ‘bout you both join me, huh?”
Debbie and Carl both smiled as they climbed up onto the couch, clinging to Ian even though there was much more space for them. Lip walked around the couch and claimed the armchair. He already knew he wouldn’t be sleeping, so he didn’t mind sitting up.
He watched his siblings get settled on the couch; Ian getting to lay down the long way with Debbie resting her head against his shoulder and Carl’s head at his feet. Lip had no clue how that could be comfortable. Fiona came down quietly, holding Liam on her hip before putting him down in his pen.
“They all out?” She whispered. Ian held up a middle finger, but the other two didn’t stir. Lip huffed out a small laugh. Fiona smiled. “Good, they should get the rest.”
Ian pried his eyes half open. “Wha’ ‘bout us?” He slurred sleepily.
“You’ll get there soon.” Fiona told him. Ian hummed and closed his eyes again. Fiona walked over to where Lip was sitting in the armchair. “How you feelin’?”
“What, you mean with the cough or Ian almost dying?” His voice cracked at the end.
She shrugged. “Either. Both.”
He looked at where the three of their siblings were sleeping on the couch. “I thought he needed to throw up.” He said quietly.
Fiona put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, you noticed something was up,” she told him. “Doesn’t matter that you weren’t right. You got him out of bed, you got Debbie to wake me up. You did good.” Lip nodded like he believed her.
“How about you?” He asked. “You okay?”
“Don’t think I don’t see what you’re doin’.” She scolded him. He shrugged and she sighed. “Fuckin’ scary is what that was,” she admitted. “But he’s alive, so everything’s good, y’know?”
Lip took too deep of a breath and let out a cough. “Yeah, I know.” He checked his stolen watch for the time. Two in the damn morning. “So, we doin’ shifts or just up all night together?” Because they both knew they wouldn’t be able to sleep after this.
Fiona pulled out a pack of cigarettes. “Together.” Lip pulled out a lighter. “You know that.” She smiled.
He grinned at her. “Damn right together.”