Disclaimer: I don't own Shameless. All I own in this story is "The Connelly House," a fictional hotel that I made up.

A/N: This is another one shot for my "Self-Preservation" verse. Like "Coming to Understandings" it's based on some events of Season three, but not entirely. All you need to know is that Jimmy has left. It's funny how you hit a block with writing then out of the blue inspiration just hits. That's what this is. Gotta strike when the iron is hot. Hope you guys enjoy!

Protective Instinct

Mickey lets out a sigh as the cold, refreshing beer slides down his throat. It's only May but an unusual hot spell has settled over the city, and like nearly every other place in their neighborhood the Alibi was hotter than balls. He doesn't have to work and his Gallagher is away at some ROTC retreat. He would normally be on the roof of some abandoned building getting fucked up and shooting at shit. But, that plan went out the window when he got a text earlier that day from Lip telling him to meet him at the Alibi. At first he refused and told the young genius to fuck off. He had better stuff to do. But, he finally changed his mind when Lip promised him he'd pay for his booze at the Alibi. So here he is.

The promise of free, cold booze is why he is here. Or that is what he would like to tell himself and firecrotch if he was around to ask. But, truth be told when Lip kept insisting that he needed to talk to him about something in person and not over the phone or through text, he knew something was up. And a part of him could not really relax until he knows what the fuck Gallagher wants.

"Hey, Kev. Get me a beer and a shot," a voice calls from across the bar. Mickey looks up to see Lip walking over to him. He gives the other boy a glare as he looks back at his now empty glass. "And refill his."

Kev raises his eyebrow but nods at the scene in front of him. Mickey doesn't know how much Kev knows about him and Ian because the bartender has never mentioned anything out right to him. But, Mickey thinks that he at least has a bit of a clue. He lives next door to the fucking Gallagher's and Mickey is always over there, whether it's for meals or just to hang out. Whether it's because Kev is not the brightest crayon in the box or he knows enough to keep his mouth shut because he knows damn well that if he says anything aloud to anyone about Mickey and Ian being gay then Mickey would kick his ass. That and he and Ian would be put in serious risk of getting the shit beat out of them if not worse. And Fiona is like a mother cub when it comes to 'her' kids. Somewhere between when Mickey became a permanent fixture besides Gallagher's hospital bedside and him getting the Gallagher's the money they so desperately needed for Ian's medical expenses, he too became one of Fiona's. Even Kev knows enough to stay on Fiona's good side.

After Kev brings over their drinks, Lip motions towards the other side of the bar. Mickey takes the hint and realizes that Lip doesn't really want anyone else to hear what he has to tell him.

Mickey takes a long sip of beer, "So what has you in a fucking tailspin?"

Lip takes a deep breath. "Jimmy's back."

The ex-con's eyes go huge. This is not what he was expecting to hear. He thought that it was something along the lines of Lip asking him to scare the piss out of Frank like he had to do a couple of months ago when the deadbeat stole the last of Ian's percocets. Or maybe some little bitch was making Debs' life a living hell at school again. But, to hear that Jimmy is back. He sure as fuck didn't expect to hear that.

"Are you shitting me?" Mickey says.

Lip nods his head. "I saw him hanging around the house," Lip takes out a cigarette and offers one to Mickey. The dark haired boy takes it and quickly lights it.

"I saw him from a distance. When he saw me coming up the street he took off."

"Did anyone see him?" Mickey asks as he bites on the inside of his lip. A strange feeling settles in his gut, just as it has over the last couple of months whenever something springs up that threatens his Gallagher. Now that feeling of uneasiness appears not only when his sister or the redhead is threatened, but also the rest of the Gallagher clan as well. Fuck! What was he turning into? Damn firecrotch! Damn the whole fucking Gallagher family with their happy smiles when they ask Mickey how he is over dinner because they actually want to know, Debs making him Jello, Fiona putting his laundry in the washer because she was already doing a load. And of course when Mickey bitches about how the Gallagher's are way too Brady like and Ian gives him a shit eating grin because he knows that although the ex-con may still feel awkward when he's around the family, he secretly enjoys spending time with them.

But right now Mickey is just gonna take a along gulp of beer, hoping that the liquid would lessen the feeling of unease that is taking residence in his gut.

Lip breathes in the smoke of his cigarette deeply. "Nah. Fiona's at work. I had Liam with me and the others were at school, so no one but me saw him."

Mickey takes another swig of beer. "Good." Now that things are cleared up, what the fuck does Gallagher want?

Almost as if Lip has some how inherited his younger brother's ability to read the ex-con's mind, he says "We need to make sure he stays gone."

Mickey barks out a cough/snort. We need to make sure he stays gone. What the fuck is Lip talking about? Since when did Lip grow a pair?

"Listen. Things are half way decent now. Debbie's back to her usual over achieving self and is no longer asking when and if Jimmy is coming back every other day. Carl…..is doing the same stuff he was doing before. Fiona's happy with Mike," Lip says as he takes a long drag of his cigarette. "I don't know about you but I'm liking the way things are without Jimmy around."

The ex-con can't help but nod his head in agreement. Things are back to normal, well as normal as they can be with the Gallagher/Milkovich fucked up version of family or some shit.

"I like Mike a hell of a lot better than Jimmy. I don't want him nosing around the house to fuck up Fiona's life. Fucking up our life," Lip adds as he takes another drink of his beer with a smile.

That fucking shithead. He knows exactly what to say or in this case not say, but imply to get Mickey going. If Jimmy stays gone then everything concerning jimmy will too, meaning his geriatric father that his Gallagher use to fuck. Mickey knows now that even if the senior citizen showed his face that nothing would happen. Ian is done with him and has been for close to a year and after all the shit that two of them have been through there's no way that any expensive gift and room service that the bastard can buy could change that.

Still, Mickey doesn't want to see that smug asshole around and if Jimmy comes prancing back into their lives that's exactly what will happen. Lloyd will be sitting at the Gallagher's crowded kitchen table, making googily eyes at his Gallagher. He can't let that happen.

"So what's your plan?" Mickey asks.

Lip smiles like a cheshire cat. For the most part Mickey has stayed out of trouble as of late. Well, not completely out of trouble but he wasn't causing nearly as much as he was months ago. He has even cut back on his meth runs and picked up some more legit work at a nearby construction sight. So Lip had to think fast as to what to say to guarantee the ex-con's involvement with his little scheme. Looks like he said the right thing.

"I was able to get the license plate number off the car he was driving and hacked into the city's traffic cameras. I tracked the car to the Connelly Hotel.," Lip explains.

"The Connelly Hotel? Nice," Mickey replies. The Connelly Hotel is an expensive as ass hotel that charges $10 for a bottle of water and serves fancy steaks and potatoes made into some elaborate sculpture. Is this where Jimmy's father took Gallagher? He can feel the aggravation begin to boil inside. "is he still there?"

Lip nods his head. "I just came from there. His car is still in the parking garage. I got into the computer's reservations and know what room he's in."

Mickey finishes his beer in one gulp and slams down the glass rather harshly on the table. He messily wipes his mouth and makes his way to the door. Noticing that Lip is not behind him he quickly turns around and calls "You fucking coming or not?"

Lip nods his head and is at Mickey's side in seconds as the pair makes their way out of the room into the warm, muggy air.

XXXXX

"It's hotter than fuck," Mickey swears as he wipes the sweat off the back of his neck with his hand.

Lip gives him a "what the fuck" look. "What the hell is the matter with you? You're more worked up about the fucking heat than you are about what we're about to do," Lip says as he opens the door to the Connelly Hotel lobby and make their way up to room 984.

Mickey sighs in satisfaction as the cool air hits his overheated body. "Why the fuck are you so nervous? Jimmy's a fucking pussy. You could have probably brought Debbie with you instead and he'd still shit his pants."

Lip rolls his eyes as they walk down the hallway. "You kiss my brother with that mouth."

The ex-con snickers as they come to the door of the room they're looking for. Kissing really isn't his and Gallagher's thing. They have only done that a handful of times. He usually uses his mouth for other things such as the blow job that he gave the redhead before he left for some fucking ROTC retreat in the middle of bumbfuck Iowa yesterday morning. And he loves making Lip squirm. "That's not the only thing I do to your brother with my mouth."

Lip's eyes go huge and Mickey can't help but laugh when the other hisses. "That's fucking gross. There's just some shit I don't need to hear about." After he shakes his head probably in some half ass attempt in getting out the mental image that Mickey just instilled into him, he asks "Are you ready to do this or do you want to continue talking to me about your sex life with my brother?"

Mickey rubs his bottom lip with his thumb, "well there was this one time wh-"

Lip can't take it anymore and knocks on the door. Seeing Jimmy's face is better than listening to this conversation. Mickey's laughter comes to an end when the person on the other side responds "who is it?"

Mickey can feel his hands clench into fists at his sides when he hears that obnoxious voice. Images of Debbie's crestfallen face after the seventh day of no sign of Jimmy, Liam's wondering eye constantly on the lookout for someone familiar who has seemed to disappear. And even Mickey couldn't miss the looks of contempt on Lip and Ian's face when they realized that someone else they came to depend on took off. But, Mickey stays silent. This is Lip's fight. He only came as backup. He already got what he wanted from the asshole. Thanks to his…negotiation with the Brazilian the Gallagher's were finally able to pay off firecrotch's hospital bills and the redhead was able to get that surgery on his hand that he so desperately needed. He's just there for the scare factor.

"It's me, Lip. You know the brother of the girl you shacked up with for more than a year and then abandoned."

Mickey and Lip stand there waiting to see if the pussy was going to open the door or just hideaway in the safety of his luxury ass hotel room.

"What? Jimmy/Steve you can't face one of the people who you pussied out on?" Lip says is a louder voice. "Be a fucking man!"

"Jesus, Gallagher!" Mickey hisses. "You're gonna get us kicked out of here. The object was to see him and scare him away. Not to fucking yell at him through the fucking door!"

Lip rolls his eyes.

"It's the least you owe him!" Mickey calls out in a slightly less loud voice "Open the damn door!"

For whatever reason Jimmy finally opens the door. He moves to the side to let to let Lip in and goes to shut the door, leaving Mickey out in the hall.

"He comes in too," Lip says before Mickey can voice his objection.

"Why?" Jimmy says with a huff.

"Because he earned it," Lip answers.

"Earned it?" Jimmy asks.

"Yeah. He didn't take off when things got to be too much. Not like you did," Lip replies.

Mickey looks down when he hears what Lip is saying. What Lip is saying is not exactly true. Granted he's been around as of late. When Frank made that fucking bet and couldn't pay. And his Gallagher got fucked up by the fucking Daniels brothers as a result. He's been there for Gallagher when he got that fucking infection and his body was wracked by seizures and fever induced delirium. He was there for Gallagher's bad days when the pain in his hand was so excruciating that he couldn't get out of bed. He was there when that simple run of the mill cold turned into a raging case of pneumonia that left his Gallagher breathing on a fucking ventilator just three months ago. He was there when Lip and Fiona were at the hospital waiting to hear about how Ian's long awaited surgery on his hand went when Deb turned up at his door bawling because some little bitch said she had a gimp of a brother.

But, he knows that wasn't always the case. When shit hit the fan and things got too personal, he took off. Like when he egged Kash on to the point where he shot him. And instead of admitting that he was gay he went to Juvie. Or the time when Frank caught them and his initial reaction was to kill him. It was that damn look on Gallagher's face that stopped him from going through with it. But, instead of owning up to the situation he punched that fucking cop and got himself another stint in Juvie. It took Gallagher getting the shit beaten out of him to change that. If that didn't happen who knows where he and Gallagher would be. Maybe Jimmy needed something like that to change his priorities too.

"Fine! The more the merrier!" Jimmy says as he puts his hands up into the air.

Mickey walks into the hotel room and quickly makes his way to the room service cart, putting a piece of steak in his mouth.

"Make yourself at home, Mickey." Jimmy says sarcastically as he makes his room over to the mini bar, pouring himself a glass of liquor.

With a mouth full of food, Mickey says as he takes another bite. "Don't mind if I do. This is some good shit." Lip laughs as he lakes a shrimp off the same plate.

"So why are you here?" Jimmy asks as he turns to Lip.

"I saw you by our house."

"And? So what? It's a public street."

"Well, not for you it ain't," Lip says as he takes another shrimp.

"What are you saying?" Jimmy asks.

"Fuck! I guess what they say is true. Money can't buy you brains. Fuckin idiot," Mickey adds as he takes a large gulp of whatever is in the glass that's on the room service cart.

Lip snickers. "What he's trying to say is that you need to stay gone."

Jimmy takes a sip. "What are you going to do about it, if I don't?"

"Well, I wouldn't be too worried about what I'll do to you, "Lip says as he points to Mickey. "But, you spent some time in the southside and knows what he's capable off. "

Mickey nods his head in agreement.

"I love your sister. The two of you threatening me is not going to change that," Jimmy retorts.

"She's moved on," Lip says sternly.

A look of hurt comes across his face. "What?"

"His name is Mike," Mickey chimes in.

"Her boss?" Jimmy asks.

"Well, it's more than a boss-employee relationship now."

Jimmy runs his hands through his hair. "And the kids?"

Mickey can't help but snort.

"They're fine. Fantastic in fact," Lip says. "Debbie just won the election for class president. She's getting friendly with a boy in her class named Jason."

"Who I had a talk with the other day when he came over for dinner," Mickey adds.

Lip turns to Mickey, "Yeah, thanks for doing that by the way." He turns back to face Jimmy. "Carl just earned his blue belt."

"Which Mike was there to see," Mickey says with a smirk. This is fun watching Jimmy squirm.

"Oh and Liam is talking up a storm. His new favorite word is 'Mick'."

Both Lip and Mickey can't help but smile in satisfaction when they see the hurt look on Jimmy's face. Serves the fucker right for making Fiona, Debbie, and Carl sad. For making the family struggle more than usual to make ends meet.

"Yeah, they don't need you," Mickey says.

"But, I love her." Jimmy says it like it makes a difference. Like it makes it okay for him to leave the one he supposedly loves.

"Jimmy?" An accented female voice says from down the hall.

Mickey can't help but laugh. This just keeps betting better and better.

"Are you fucking serious?" Lip snickers.

The owner of the voice makes her way to the room where they are. Lip instantly recognizes her. "Hi, Estefania."

A large smile appears on the pretty Brazilian's face as she goes to give him a huge hug. "Hi, Lip!"

Lip returns the hug awkwardly.

"Este. Lip and I need to talk alone. Here go shopping," Jimmy says as he takes out a credit card from his wallet.

"Anything, I want?" She asks.

A fake smile is plastered across Jimmy's face. "Anyhting."

"Thanks, Jimmy!"

She turns to Lip and waves bye to him. "Bye, Lip!" He waves good bye to her awkwardly as she leaves.

Once the door is closed, Mickey lets out "Are you fucking serious?"

"So, as you're standing here telling me how you love my sister, your WIFE is in the other room."

"That's pretty fucked up even for my standards," Mickey says with a whistle.

"I can ex-"

"NO! You're done explaining shit. You stay the fuck away from my family! Got it?!" Lip yells as he gets closer to the car thief.

"Lis—" Jimmy tries to say, but Lip doesn't want to hear anything that is coming out of Jimmy's mouth. He's done with the bullshit. All the hurt that Jimmy has caused his sister and younger siblings comes out. In one quick motion he lets his fist fly into Jimmy's face.

"Fuck!" Jimmy says as he bends over, holding a hand to his throbbing cheek.

"Stay the fuck away!" Lip yells.

Satisfied that Jimmy is not saying anything and it doesn't look like he's dumb enough to try and it back, Lip grabs a piece of steak and turns to Mickey. "You ready to go?"

Mickey nods his head and the two starts to head to the door. Just as they are about to reach it, Mickey stops. "Hold on a sec, one last thing."

"What the fuck, Mickey. Let's get the fuck out of here."

Mickey gives Lip the finger as he makes his way back to the mini bar and grabs a very expensive bottle of whiskey. As he walks by Jimmy who is finally standing upright again, hand still nursing his throbbing cheek. Mickey can't help himself, he swiftly punches Jimmy in the nose. The sound of crunching bone and the feel of blood on his knuckles brings a big ass smile to the ex-con's face. He laughs cruelly when he hears Jimmy's pitiful curses and moans of pain. From his past experience he's pretty fucking sure that he broke Jimmy's nose. Serves the fucker right.

"Now, we can go."

Lip laughs as Mickey closes the door on a bloody and whimpering Jimmy. Before they even reach the elevator Mickey has the bottle open and is drinking from it.

"Hey, let me have some of that," Lip says as he reaches for the bottle.

"Fuck off, Gallagher!" But the adrenaline that comes with punching the crap out of someone has Mickey in a good mood. That and he's pretty sure that Jimmy won't be making another appearance to fuck things up. So he's feeling kinda generous as he hands over the bottle of booze to Lip.

Lip takes it graciously and takes a large gulp."You reminded me of something."

As they step into the elevator, Mickey asks "Yeah and what is that?"

"That I better stay on your good side," Lip says as he hits the button for the Lobby.

Mickey shakes his head. Fuck. Did he actually do that? Did he actually just punch Fiona's ex because he was snooping around the house? He tries to tell himself that he did it to keep Jimmy's father from coming around. But he knows damn well that that's not the only reason. The Gallagher's were doing okay at the moment, they deserve to be left alone. But there's no way in hell he saying that out loud. So instead he settles with, "Fuck yeah, you better, Gallagher." Mickey says as he takes the bottom of booze from Lip and the door to the elevator closes.

I know it's been awhile since you heard from me. I'm so sorry! Now with summer right around the corner, I promise that you will see more of me